KEEP YOUR PASSION ALIVE!
Passion is an internal motivation to do something or to achieve a goal. There is nothing fulfilling than living a passionate life. Although every man on earth have a purpose to live for, but it becomes very difficult to pursue this purpose if there is no living/active passion in us.
While young, we are so ambitious, energetic, positive and optimistic; we believe we can really achieve everything and can dare unimaginable risks without regrets because we were all born with passion. However, as we grow up, we started experiencing what rejection is, we got to know we could fail, we were told directly/indirectly that we are not the best and that our dreams are impossible.
Days, months and years went by, experiencing and listening to these same things that smother our passion. We can hardly remember our aspirations when we were young; some already believe they are meant for average living because of what their friends, colleagues, teachers, parents who once categorized them as average students.
We found it difficult to believe in our childhood dreams, some are deeply hurt that our passion is fading out gradually to the extent that they have settled them to live like other people, by living average life just to earn degrees, get married, born kids, build houses, buy cars and die, a lot are not passionate of building a name and brining about innovation and daring risks again.
Beloved, what if I tell you that your passion can be revived and you can still make your life count purposefully? Reviving your passion back is not really tedious and I believe every man can do it. These tips have been tested and will really help out.
Have a date with yourself
This is the first and crucial step as it is the step to self-discovery. Unfortunately, we are interested in knowing someone else, checking their social media, encouraging their vision and we even spend less time to talk to ourselves, encourage ourselves and challenge ourselves. I am not calling you to a selfish life but rather to a life of self-discovery. “The greatest specimen I ever studied is myself, I learn about myself daily, I spent several hours to learn why I do what I do. Many people spent several hours learning others while they don’t pay attention to themselves” – Adebolu Aderinlewo.
So, ask yourself: What can I really do? What do I really really love to do? Do I really love my job? If I have all the money I ever wanted to have, will I still do this job?
Remember your past successes:
I have tried this many times especially while very discouraged and my passion was restored by this practice. Although, we are not to magnify our past successes but putting them to heart as we remember them have a way of bringing back our passion while discouraged. Can you remember how you felt when you win competitions? What you did feel when your parents, mentors, friends told you he/she is proud of you? This remembrance have a way of motivating your heart that regardless of what you are going through now, you are not a failure but a success.
Set goals along building your potentials:
After self-discovery exercise as illustrated above in the first tip, I believe you should have a correct perception of your potentials but it doesn’t stop there. Strengthening your passions by setting personal goals along building your potentials is very critical. As you set these goals, you will put your passion to work along building what you love to do and you will be more motivated to do excellent things, thereby living purposely along these potentials with ease and finding fulfillment.
Discard negative opinions
Passion is like a candle light in the dark which enable us to navigate our paths, however negative opinions are like whirlwind which can blow off this light. We must recognize that it’s not realistic that there won’t negative opinions about the purpose we want to pursue. Some people we say “you are too young, you are too old, you are just wasting your time etc.” however, the effect of this negative opinion is based on how we see such negative opinion. Likewise, this effect is dependent on who (in terms of closeness and influence) spoke the negative opinion. So, beware of those who you allow to be the dominant voices in your life. Be careful and very selective about who really are your friends, mentors and confidants. Don’t allow negative people to rule you life by their words and actions, some people are just negative and there is nothing you can do to change them, the only thing is to avoid such people as you guard your passion jealously. However, welcome constructive criticism while necessary with humility and an eagerness to improve on yourself.
Don’t wear yourself out
Relax your heart when necessary, go on vacation, have fun, play games, see movies, take regular and sufficient rest and don’t joke with your sleep-time. There is a unique way this revive your passion and heart to pursue your goals with great strength. You can also visit the less-privilege (homeless and motherless) to impact their lives.
Document your success
Write down your daily successes and achievements. Through this means, you can know how well you are achieving your goals with time. This will challenge you to make bigger goals and while necessary motivate you to take risks and stop living a routine and average life like everybody else but rather a purposeful and passionate life with great optimism and passion.
To be continued...
