by ~el-ruben on deviantArt
Passion. It seems to be this mysterious fleeting thing that has settled very snugly into whatever corner it found to hide in. This morning as I laid in bed I was thinking about passion. More specifically, my own passions. I remember browsing the internet when I was younger and trying to find a desirable career path for myself, and one consistent theme was this – Follow your Passion. My Passion? But, what are my Passions? How do I know what I’m passionate about? Am I just a Passionless person? While the advice was always “Follow your Passion”, good advice though it was, they didn’t tell me how to find it. Time passed and I remained passion-less, but eventually a time came where I did find it, and it was a choice I will never, ever, regret.
“Steph, what is this Passion?” Well, kind reader, I discovered it right under my own nose, I suppose. My Passion is in helping people. Seems simple, right? So how did I not notice? Well trivial everyday help isn’t exactly what I’m talking about in this instance, I found I was passionate about Helping make – what I felt to be – a genuinely positive difference in the world. Now, that sounds a lot more complicated, but I don’t really think that it is. Let me explain.
Some of the boys from the Baby Orphanage in Tam Ky where we spent most of our time.
My journey to Passion-discovery started with the opportunity to go with my school on a trek in Nepal. When I asked my mother, the answer was no. It was too late notice, too expensive, too far away. I was discouraged, but not so discouraged that I didn’t search the internet. I looked here and there at different volunteer organisations and narrowed them down by those who would take teenagers and then by cost of trip. My mother is a bit of a pessimist sometimes (as many mothers are) and discouraged me from doing this, but for once in my life I decided to fight her pessimism, and though she remained skeptical, I was setting up to follow through. Volunteering through these companies is not a cheap thing to do, and because of our family situation mum told me “If you want to go, you have to pay for it all yourself.” It was expensive, I won’t lie, but wow do they get you started. I went on the GVN Vietnam Youth Tour, and it really was the best decision I’ve yet to make.
“Well, yeah Steph, but how do I find mine?” Well keep listening because here it comes! If you want to find your own passions, you have to go out there and try things. And while trying out a new class in your town is great, I am challenging you to go and do something completely wild, something completely different from your life experiences so far. Go and live the life of someone else, and tell me how it feels. If you never change anything and you never take any risks, then you will never find that the most fantastic things are waiting just around the corner. And you can’t deny that you’ve always wanted to travel the world to at least one other country, well here is a lovely page giving you a brief idea of how much you can achieve, and there are tons of other pages like this out there, just waiting for you to look at them!
By being stubborn and doing something I felt an inner need to do, I discovered my passion. Sure, I was only in Vietnam for two weeks, but every day there was such a fantastic experience that there was no way I wanted it to end. It’s a fantastic feeling when you look forward to getting up in the morning and knowing you are making a difference.
I’m not saying your passions will be the same as mine, but I will tell you that I think Volunteering is something Every Single Person should do at LEAST once in their life. It’s an experience like no other.
Now go out there, try new things, and find your passion! It could be waiting just around the corner.
What is your passion? Let me know what it is and how you found it!
For Love and Change 