Slowly but surely my birthday comes closer. One more year until I’m 30 and it all ends. Jk. I’m shooting for many more years and things ahead. But there’s something about turning 30 that feels extra intense. Conversations amongst friends who are the same age or a bit younger have all centered around one thing: I’m no where near where I thought I’d be by now.
To our credit, millennials have learned to navigate a world our parents never knew they needed to prepare us for. Side hustles, online jobs and the freedom to work from anywhere is a strong driving factor for many. But learning how to find your passion and turning it into something lucrative takes a bit more finesse.
In the 7 years since I graduated college, I’ve had 4 different full time jobs. I’ve learned something from each of them that’s helped me with the next. And they’ve all taught me a bit about the kind of career I want plus the atmosphere I work best in. So today, I’m sharing everything I’ve learned along the way. From how I figured out I wanted to be a full time content creator to learning what the heck I even wanted to talk about, I hope sharing how I was able to find my passion can help you find yours. Let’s get started!
How Do You Spend Your Time
No matter what we are doing, everything costs us something. Whether it’s time, energy or money, we are always giving something for the things we do. So what are you giving your time to and why? For me, well I spend my time taking care of others. I enjoy helping people. It doesn’t necessarily cost me money but it does cost me time. And more often than not, it’s something I enjoy.
When I first started the blog, it was because I wanted to help my friends get healthy. It’s very much evolved from there. But helping my friends learn about eating healthier and cooking was something I already spent time doing. It made since. Your passion might be something you don’t even realize you’re doing. Take a look at where your time goes and what things bring you the most joy. There might be some digging involved to find your passion. Nevertheless, with a little observation, you can be one step closer to identifying a career that brings you joy.
HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY
Going into film was a no brainer for me. I was the girl in the sorority house who had all the dvds. If you needed to borrow a movie (pre-Netflix having decent options on streaming), you came to me. There was a system and everything. Me? A system? Never.
Buying movies, spending money to see them in theaters more than once or even donating to see my favorites get made (i.e. Veronica Mars) were all indicators of a passion I didn’t know I had. Eventually, I recognized that a good chunk of my time, energy and money was going towards an industry I could get a job in. So I packed up my life and spent 1.5 years networking, taking time off work to do free gigs and eventually quitting my day job to make a living in a very odd bubble.
If you aren’t spending time on something, you’re probably spending money. And if you want to find your passion, you need to follow the money. Look at what you’re spending monthly. It might not be the bulk of your budget or even a large portion. You might save up for this one thing every few months. But it doesn’t hurt to do a deep dive into your budget when you’re trying to find your passion.
WHAT ARE YOUR LIFE CHANGING MOMENTS
When I first moved back to my hometown, I stumble across a book called Restless*. One word that truly described how I was feeling at the time. I’d just left a job I’d worked incredible hard to get and was attempting to define my life in a place I never thought I’d be again. I was most certainly restless.
There’s a section of the book that takes you through difference phases of life. Essentially, you’re identifying the key moments that have impacted you and potentially finding a hidden passion within. At the time, my key moments hadn’t quite happened yet: losing my dad and deciding to live my life on my terms. Your key moments may look nothing like mine but they are incredibly important if you want to find your passion.
For others in my life, I’ve seen this passion show up after losing a family member to an illness or having a child get sick. You might find that you’ve survived a really tough season that you want to help others with. Those big defining and refining moments in our lives happen for a reason. And your reason just might be that they are the match that lights the fire for your passion.
WHAT DO FRIENDS COME TO YOU FOR ADVICE ON
I am very much the big sister friend*. From being the guinea pig for beauty products, giving life advice and talking about wellness, these are amongst the things that my friends ask me about. They are also the majority of the content created for What Savvy Said. When I first started the blog, I attempted to find my footing using the blogs I loved as my mirror. And while I enjoy and still read them, I was looking for answers in all the wrong places.
It’s awesome if you find you have the same passion as someone else on the internet. How amazing is it that we can connect with people who love the same things as us so easily? But just because you follow someone and love their content, doesn’t mean their passion is yours too.
I’ve never particularly been a fan of the “what would you do if money wasn’t a factor question”. It never really hit the nail on the head so to speak for helping me find my passion. However, looking at the conversations I was having with friends and what I talked about most often was a game changer. I realized I could take my big sister moments with friends and help more people. So now I could merge my love of helping people with sharing advice and creating a safe space for us all to grow in.
Pay attention to your conversations this week. What are you talking about with people? What do you wish you were talking about more? How do those things intersect? Is there maybe a passion there you didn’t realize fulfilled you as much as it does?
Your passion. Finding the thing that sparks joy in your life can be found. It just takes some digging. But I promise that it will be worth it to do the hard work in the long run.
Have you found your passion? What do you love to do and how did you find it? I’d love to know. Be sure to leave me a comment below and let me know. And don’t forget to share today’s post with someone you think needs it. Until next time. Xoxo, Savvy
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