Everyone has a passion, right? Well, not necessarily. Recently, I’ve felt like I have been missing something in my life because it seems as if everyone I’m surrounded by has something that burns the fire within them. Something that they are addicted and dedicated to. Something that engulfs their time, effort and emotion. Something they call their passion.
This concept came to mind when I was having one of those college meltdowns where you contemplate what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. Do I continue to pay tuition at Kent, or drop out and tell myself I’ll be “satisfied” with my high school cashier job at Giant Eagle? Obviously I stuck with the first option. This meltdown is all because of one class. Everyone has that one class that makes them question everything they are doing in life. I ashamedly allowed one unsatisfying class to make me question whether or not I am passionate about my major anymore. I know you can’t let a course ruin the rest of your semester, but sometimes it is hard to have a clear mind when your major impacts the rest of your life.
After allowing a 20-minute pity party for myself, I felt I needed inspiration. So I did what anyone else probably would have done and watched a TedTalk. I came across one called “Stop searching for your passion” by Terri Trespicio. She shares her story about having that dream job all of your friends and family are jealous of, then loosing passion for it, and starting all over again. She was on the hunt to find her passion again, but realized passion is a “dangerously limiting idea at the heart of everything we believe about success and life in general.” So she stopped hunting.
I agree with her statement because humans are too tortured by the idea that they need to be successful. We have become so indecisive in our feelings that something we liked a week ago is repulsive to us today. The same goes with passion. Passion is a feeling- it changes with the circumstances around us in that moment.
Trespicio discusses how society has this idea that everyone needs to find his or her singular passion, pursue it and then everything will magically fall into place. But if you don’t find your passion, you have failed. Society also has the notion that what you are doing and supposed to be doing is what you are passionate about; that is unrealistic. I know I was not passionate about being a cashier when I got my job at Giant Eagle in high school. I did it for the money (minimum wage) because I needed a way to pay for things.
You can’t possibly be passionate about everything you do. But people, myself included, buy into society’s norms because it’s human nature to conform. It is okay to have tunnel vision to find your passion once in awhile, but do not make a habit of it. Keep an open mind to everything that comes your way because if you are too busy searching for your passion, you could miss opportunities that can change your life.
In conclusion of this rant, I want to reiterate that it is okay to not have a passion right now. Trespicio’s best piece of advice is that, “To live a life full of meaning and value, you don’t follow your passion, your passion follows you.”
I’m a sophomore in college and I don’t have a passion. I’m just majoring in something that I enjoy right now. If something crosses my path, I’ll take a chance and maybe, just maybe, that will be my passion.