Finding Your Passion

With Elliot & Stella

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Is it okay not to have a specific talent or interest in something?

Stella - Finding your passion is not necessarily career-wise; it's more like hobbies and just things that you do in daily life. So some examples would be playing sports or music that you because you enjoy it. Your passion may evolve as you age also.

Elliot - It depends on people's experiences and many talents that people have discovered like archery. I think it's just dependent on how many things people have tried and how specific their interests are. But if you have no idea what you like I think that's okay because over time you'll discover things. I think as you go through life, you'll find things you like.

You don’t necessarily have to go out into the world to try new hobbies, as things such as painting, writing or gardening you can do anytime from home.

How important is it to find something you enjoy?

Mental health-wise, it is amazing if you have something to do that you look forward to daily, whether that's with friends or not.

I think having something that you are passionate about, such as a hobby, creates motivation, especially because life can’t always be fun, but why not make it as much as possible?

What can you do to find your passion?

Well even from just talking to your friends, you might be introduced to something completely new that can open up so many more opportunities for fun things to do.

I think it's all just actually stepping out into the world and trying everything you see that you have the slightest interest in. This may even be a sport or a form of art you saw in a movie that you’re interested to learn more about. You don't need others to go find new things to explore.

Yeah, some other things you can do is like joining clubs or a sporting group. If you find like-minded people you will be able to get ideas from them. However, if you’re not a fan of having to constantly meet and be around new people there are still other options.

Should you know what things you like from childhood?

Some have been doing the same hobby since they were like three and they love it. Though you can feel like you're locked in if you’re already skilled at one thing there is no point in trying something else. Just always remember there's a difference between something you're good at and something that you enjoy.

Yeah so I think just because you haven’t found something when you’re younger that does not mean in any way that there are no hobbies for you, and it is completely normal for your interest in your hobbies to fluctuate and change.

No one is given the same opportunities in life as each other, so you can’t expect to know what you love even if the people around you have already found their interests.

Should you base your career around your interests?

I think always I think it's very important to find something you’re passionate about for your career as often there will be a lot of time and effort put into just beginning this, and if you enjoy it the work becomes so much easier.

I think, of course, try to have a job that you enjoy, however, it is reasonable to say that if you’re entire life you have loved playing soccer, you don’t want to make a career of it. There is a huge difference between doing a sport whenever you feel like it and dedicating your entire life towards it and that’s okay. If you do turn a hobby into a career it can become something that you have to do instead of want to do which can make you lose your passion for it.

And maybe it's just better to choose a career that you like and then have your own hobbies on the side, you can get both and just because you have a passion doesn’t mean you want to complete it at a high level.

So you find other things, for example, if you love painting, it doesn't mean you need to sell paintings in your art gallery. It means you can do painting whenever you feel like it, and then you can get another job and leave the painting for when you want to take your mind off the stresses of life.

Although I agree with everything we have discussed so far, it is important to say that it is not a bad thing if you have found something you love and want to turn it into a career, as long as you understand what that means. The risk is if you are crazy passionate about your career that potentially you will sacrifice other parts of your life, such as time family, life balance, exercise.