Disclaimer: The Eqbal Ahmad Centre for Public Education (EACPE) encourages critical and independent thinking and believes in a free expression of one’s opinion. However, the views expressed in contributed articles are solely those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the EACPE.
To succeed in life, it is important to discover your passion and opt it as your career. No one else is going to do it for you; you have to do it yourself. However it is often confusing when it comes to doing it practically. For instance, a lot of students remain unclear while deciding their career. When I started my journey of discovering my passion and to opt it as my career, I wanted to discover it at once. It was unwise of me that I didn’t practice patience. As a result, I started feeling frustrated, hopeless and confused.
Following are a few things that helped me discover my passion. I believe sharing them will help you, too.
Self-awareness
In order to discover where your heart belongs, you have to become self-aware. Sit somewhere quiet, and ponder over yourself and your life. Consider communicating with yourself. Take a pen and a paper, and try answering these three simple questions:
What are your priorities? What do you want from your life? Do you want to lead or follow?
Define what does passion mean to you
Afterwards, you have to take a moment, and think about what true passion means to you, and think about the ways to achieve it. You have to define it in your words, and according to your ideas. Discussing with wise and like-minded people helps, but let’s talk with yourself first. A wonderful world of ideas and creativity lies within YOU awaiting to be discovered.
Knowingly or not; You have already discovered your passion
What if I told you have already discovered your passion but you’ aware of it yet.
Your true passion lies within you. You are born with it and you don’t need to search for it outside. It will find you. May be you have already adopted it as your hobby. Sometimes, it is quite hectic to carry it all along with your other activities, but you are always willing to do it. Your passion fascinates you always.
You as a person matters the most
One’s personality and passion go side by side. For example, if you like challenging tasks, you will find a job that demands hard work. And if you don’t like a hectic routine, you will go for relatively easy job It doesn’t mean that it will never clash with your personality traits, but somehow it will match with it in the long run.
Your aim in life paves the way towards the true passion
Dreams are not those what you vision while asleep. Instead, your aims and objectives are your real dreams. Do think of thems while choosing your profession. Your true passion is the path to turn your dreams into reality.
Your passion will give you tough time in the start
Last but not the least, your true passion isn’t always something that will give you peace of mind in traditional terms. Yes, it will definitely give but not always. True passion is something for which you are always ready to cope with challenges. You are always willing to face and fight with the challenges that come in your way. It will give you a tough time. It will make you question your limits. It will disturb you for quite sometime, but in the end you will be satisfied. Challenges and failures are always going to be a consistent part of your life. You have to learn the ways which will help you deal with them, and a lot of times fight with them without having fear and nervousness.
Now comes the question about career opportunities. Suppose, you jotted all the points on a paper. You did your best to discover your passion. But what’s next? Now, it is going to be quite a sensible approach to research regarding all the career opportunities which match with your field of studies, your personality, choices, goals, dreams, academics you have chosen previously, and your true passion, of course. Internet facility has made things easier for this purpose. You can find relevant information using Google. Keep adding more information on what you started on a piece of paper without any external aid. Try to figure out that which career opportunity will help you turn your dreams into realities.
Now, you have enough information in your mind and you can talk to other people to further expand your ideas. However, you don’t have to talk to every next person or random people as it will be counter-productive. Just seek the assistance of knowledgeable and like-minded people; those who are educated and enlightened and open to new ideas; those who understand you, your dreams, your way of thinking, and most importantly your true passion.
Good luck!
Contributed by Wardah Noor
The writer has recently done her F.Sc (Pre-Medical). She is a bright student, who seeks to get doctorate degree first and then to become prime minister of Pakistan and serve the country.