For many years I’ve kinda had the same thought whenever I kept reading various self-improvement blogs: I don’t have a passion. I need to find one or else I’m wasting my time.
But is that true?
Is life really all that bad if we don’t have a passion or anything that we love doing?
On this blog, I’ve covered many topics on self-improvement, growth, and positivity, and sometimes the thing I suggested was: to find your passion and focus on it.
But doing so, I didn’t realize that just a couple of years ago I was like you (sorry if that’s harsh but if you’re reading this chances is that it’s true), I didn’t have a passion.
Ok, that’s a bit of a lie, because truthfully I always liked cars, and enjoyed car-related content (think of Top Gear, etc). Only 1-2 years ago I realized I should turn that into my passion and focus more on it, so I did, I started a car-related site and now I’m planning on opening a YouTube channel focused on cars and driving…
Okay, back to you now and the main problem at hand: You don’t have a passion.
So what?
Lots of people don’t. That’s not a bad thing. We’ve got it in our heads that we need to do this to do that, and we enter into comparison traps with our friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors.
And guess what?
You don’t have to… you can just enjoy life at your own pace, doing what you do, and continue living, learning and exploring.
And that’s actually my main point… who said you don’t have a passion anyway?
You see, the big marketing companies got it into our heads that if we don’t do this we are not “good enough” or that we are “boring and plain”, or if we don’t buy certain products then we are missing out, but that’s just a psychological trick that they are using called FOMO (fear of missing out) and it can be terrible on your mental health.
If you’re reading this article right now, chances are you’re passionate about self-development and improving various areas of your life, but you might not even realize it.
You’re probably reading and researching other similar things like “best food supplements” or the best type of diet for your lifestyle.
Even if you don’t have a passion, you’re still interested in things that matter to you, and it can be anything from your pets to the clothes that you wear, to fitness and even testing various local coffee shops.
So you might not have a definitive passion, but you’re still someone who constantly researches, reads, and experiences new things, and that’s enough, it’s probably more than enough actually.
You don’t have to make a career out of everything or spend countless hours of your time focusing on something.
But okay… I hear you asking:
Stephen, is there a way that I can actually find my passion?
Well, here’s a small little secret that I discovered a while ago and I gave this tip to some people and they agree with me… (it might not work for you though, so take this with a grain of salt).
It’s silly but… it’s like this:
What do you watch when you’re eating?
Do you open Netflix or YouTube perhaps?
If so, do you have a favorite tv show or favorite YouTube channels/topics that you watch?
Remember how I said earlier at the beginning of this article how I always consumed car-related content?
Well at some point it dawned on me: Hang on a minute… every time I have a couple of minutes to spare, whether I’m eating or chilling, I always watch my favorite car content on YouTube from various YouTubers. Almost nothing else (I know how boring).
But the thing is this: If I only have a limited time to myself each day (after working, meeting friends, family, etc), and I only have a couple of minutes to an hour to spend on relaxing, then the thing I chose to spend my time on must really be important to me. And so I’ve realized that’s my main passion in life (so far): cars.
I gave this tip to my brother… he’s obsessed with fitness, yet he had no idea that was his passion and that’s something that he wants to pursue financially as well (I know it’s weird that he didn’t make the connection but yeah that happens).
So I’ve asked him: What do you do when you’re eating?
He said: Nothing, I just watch YouTube.
Ok, I said… What topics?
He replied: Well various fitness influencers mainly old-school ones like Rich Piana (R.I.P. big guy)
So I said well that’s you’re answer… you gotta do something about that.
And he did.
He started a fitness and health-related site and started pushing out video content on social media (with a twist to differentiate from the millions of fit influencers and fitness-related content out there).
He likes it, and even if he’s not really well known and doesn’t yet make serious money out of it, at least it’s something that he enjoys spending his time doing and helps him clear his head from other things. And this makes him happy knowing that he is motivating other people as well.
So as you can see, the answer to the question: I don’t have a passion, what do I do? is pretty simple, actually, there are two answers, no wait.. three:
- You don’t obsess over it too much and continue enjoying the things that you do, continue researching, learning about various things, improving yourself, exploring, going to that free Karate lesson that you always had in the back of your mind, get a cheap camera and try your hand at some random street photography… etc.
- You try to identify something that you spend most of your time on, and perhaps you realize that’s your main passion (do you watch a ton of cooking shows? Well there you go, you should try cooking at home), or remember the things you used to like doing in the past, but then life got in the way.
- You don’t do anything and it might come to you unexpectedly later down in life, and if it doesn’t then, well who said it’s something bad anyway?
You can see more methods and tips by reading my other guide on how to find your true passion.
But even with the above tips… let’s be real, some days you’ll still feel lost, and that’s okay.
There’ll be false starts and moments where you just want to crawl back under the covers and binge-watch reality TV. Progress isn’t a straight line, and we all need those mental health days sometimes.
Here’s the thing though:
By paying attention to those little sparks, taking those tiny actions, and celebrating those small wins, something shifts.
You start to build momentum. You become a little bolder, a little more open to possibilities. Maybe you find a cool community of people along the way, or even end up surprising yourself with a hidden talent.
The journey to finding what makes your days a little brighter, your life a bit more meaningful… it’s different for everyone. And I’m not gonna lie, it might take time. But remember, you don’t have to have it all figured out right now. You can have a good existence even without a main passion.
All you have to do is take that next tiny step. You got this.
This got a little long now, but I’m curious to know: Do you have a passion? and if so how did you come up with it or how did you realize that’s what matters to you?
Let me know in the comments below.
