A happy you is a healthy you, so what makes you happy? Are you following your passions in life? Are you able to identify what your passions are so if you aren’t following them you know what changes to make? If you aren’t sure how to answer the previous questions, fear not, soon you will be!
Follow Your Heart
If there is something you love doing, whether as a hobby or past-time, explore the possibility of turning your passion into your career. It isn’t as far fetched as it may sound. If you love the idea of helping people and you contemplated a career within the medical and healthcare fields, explore online nurse practitioner programs and go for it. What could be more fulfilling than to wake up every day and looking forward to doing something you absolutely love?
Self Discovery
When trying to take a mental inventory of your passions, do some soul searching. Is there something you find yourself constantly reading about? When you are talking with friends and family, what topic comes up that you feel yourself get physically excited to talk about? When you have a physiological response to a certain subject, that is proof positive you are passionate about that particular thing. Even when your mind may not be able to articulate definite answers to some questions, your physical, involuntary responses should tell you all you need to know.
Have a think about your talents. Not the things that you do because you have to or you should, but bonafide talents. Talents are the things that come easily to you. Something you have an innate aptitude for. There are talents that you may have but are unaware of.
Do people often compliment you on something you do? You may have dismissed those compliments previously because you thought someone was simply being polite. Chances are if those compliments are coming from various sources you have a talent that others recognize but you have not yet come to terms with.
Bear in mind, when speaking of your passions, that is not to say that you necessarily excel in that particular area. Passions are not a competition. You do not have to be the best or the greatest. The single most defining aspect of a passion is your personal enjoyment. By recognizing your talents, it can lend some insight as to things you are passionate about.
Strong Emotional Responses
When interacting with other people and you get that overwhelming sense of annoyance, take note. Make a mental note of that reaction to explore at a later time. When you have the time to process that reaction, define the reason behind it. You are not having a strong reaction to something for no reason.
Don’t be quick to discount those feelings; instead, try to understand where they came from. Were you reacting to someone’s sense of flamboyancy because you, on some level, feel envious of their ability to indulge themselves? You may be judging them for something that you wish you had; when ironically, you can have it.
Oftentimes, you allow yourself to stagnate, because you don’t entertain the possibility of freeing yourself from your self-imposed restraints. It is easy to have a defeatist attitude if you don’t understand how to stop your responsibilities from being stifling.
Identifying your passions doesn’t have to be a daunting task. It just takes knowing what you are looking for. Teach yourself to look out for the telltale signs of things you enjoy and your passions will become overwhelmingly clear.
