DISCOVER YOUR PASSION TO REVAMP YOUR LIFE

May 18, 2008

Sue Heming

Stress is insidious. Far from being desirable to help you improve performance and achieve your goals, most stress has seriously negative consequences. It affects your ability to enjoy your life, to be productive, to feel that you are living your life on purpose, to invest positively in relationships and to make sound financial decisions. Chronic stress can set us on a reactive pathway rather than a proactive one. One of the most significant stresses that impact people’s lives is working in a job they hate. Many people do this their whole lives.

Unfortunately, social pressure to be reliable and work at anything to earn a living can be overwhelming and the desire to find work that you can actually enjoy is often derided and discouraged. It is important to realize that no matter how sincere people’s advice is, they are not the ones who will have to live with the consequences of following it. If we don’t start off on the right track when we are young we may never feel free to make the radical decision to find our own passion in life. In fact, we are likely to be labelled as irresponsible, unreliable and selfish if we try to do so. It may seem easier to follow the path of least resistance in the face of these sorts of pressures. However, you need to know the cost of caving. Stress and unhappiness steal your peace and hope for your future. They are known to age you a lot faster and rob you of your youth and vitality. They are also the direct causes of many physical and mental illnesses. Stress causes more stress because our ability to be productive and successful is reduced whereas our likelihood of making poor decisions increases.

Many people find themselves struggling with debt as a direct result of a life that doesn’t work. They have bought into the lie that you don’t have to like your work, you just have to do it. The truth is that true success is a direct function of doing what you love. In other words, if you are in debt the answer is not only to be found in a direct response to your debt. The answer lies in finding your passion and a way to profit from it. When you do this, you will be in the best possible position to live your life with integrity, peace and joy. You’ll be less likely to find yourself in debt and if already in it, you’ll be more likely to find your way out of it.

However, the sad truth is that most of us are not young people starting out in life but people who need to unpeel the onion skins of our lives and find a core of passion we can rebuild our lives around. This means that ignoring the life we have created and simply finding our passion is not enough. We also have to start making some strategic life decisions to eradicate the stresses that are currently impacting our lives. Even if we discover our passion, it will probably take some time to develop it into a profit earning proposition.

So, begin to identify the major stresses in your life and deal with them. If debt is overwhelming look at ways to reduce the burden such as debt consolidation or transferring your balances to a zero rate introductory credit card. Reduce expenses if necessary and learn to live within a budget. Whatever is causing you stress, be willing to identify it and deal with it. Aim to get on an even keel quickly but don’t leave it at that. Your goal is to recreate your life so that you can live with passion. Begin to pay attention to what makes your heart sing. What grabs your attention and attracts your interest? Begin to do those things that give you enjoyment and allow you to use your gifts and talents.

As you do this, your confidence and optimism about your future will increase. Opportunities to earn or create an income from doing what you love will begin to appear and everything else in your life will start to fall into place. The decision to live with passion is the decision to start really living.