Why passion by itself is not enough
Picking the right career-path
Recently, I have been facing a lot of uncertainties. I graduated from college with a bachelor’s in Business Marketing and a minor in French. I started my college career thinking I would use my business knowledge to create my dream fashion brand business. From a young age, I knew I was passionate about fashion, art, and visual expressions. In my junior year of high school, I prepared myself by taking a one-year intense fashion design course at night to spare me some time and start my dream job by the time I graduate from college. Fast forward to 6 years; I feel stuck. It’s been two months since I have officially finished college.
I have passion for a lot of things but I couldn’t commit to only one path. I realized that my passion is learning new things, making it hard to pick a career path. I want to pursue graphic designing, fashion designing, video making, UI/Ux designing, Painting, Learning languages, writing music, photography… everything I can put my hands on. But as you can quickly realize, it is impossible to invest time and effort in all my passion. To turn your passion into a full-time career, you need to have a reason “why.” If you pursue a passion without purpose for the sake of enjoyment or self-satisfaction, you can easily quit when you no longer feel those emotions. Purpose reminds you why you want to pursue your passion, even in those times you feel like you don’t want to do it anymore.
After realizing this, I quickly grabbed a pen and listed out the things that I am passionate about and a list of reasons why I would want to pursue them. This method minimized my list and gave me a better idea of what I want to focus on in my career. If you have a curious mind like mine, selecting one path in life can feel daunting and limiting, but it is essential to have a better idea of the bigger picture to work up the smaller steps. This way, you can do the things you are passionate about while investing your time in finding purpose in them. Sometimes, you may not have the answer to what you’re looking for, but you can prepare the right questions so that you know when you find the answer.
So, if you have a passion, Find the why.
