What Are You Passionate About?

What are you passionate about?

For some people this question is easy to answer. They are passionate about things like soccer, cooking, playing a musical instrument, or teaching. For others, this question is hard. Really really hard.

I am the second of these too.

I’m not looking for a big career change or life planning or anything like that. I just simply want to try and figure out what I’m truly passionate about. So, when the time comes to make a big decision I could reflect on this information and use it as guidance (along with lots of prayer) to make the best decision possible.

When I sat down and thought critically about this here is what I first came up with.
Playing the piano
Singing
Photography
Reading

Well that’s all well and good but it doesn’t really give me perspective on which direction I want my life to take. So I did a little research, I found some articles that tell you to “follow your dreams” and “reach for the stars” but I found little information that actually helped you figure out what you’re lifelong dreams and stars actually are. I found a few questions to ask yourself that were helpful and I came up with a few of my own. Here are my favorites.

1. Describe your perfect day.

2. Time flies by without you realizing it when you are doing _____? (fill in the blank)

3. Where do your daydreams take you?

4. If you received an extra $100 what would you spend it on?

5. What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Now, you can take these questions an answer them with a sarcasm (that has a little truth in it) and find out a few things about yourself. Here are my smart aleck answers:

1. Describe your perfect day. Sleeping in, wearing pajamas all day while watching HGTV and wasting too much time on Pinterest. (note: I do not have HGTV anymore but when I did, I loved it.)

2. Time flies by without you realizing it when you are doing _____? Sleeping or watching a movie.

3. Where do your day dreams take you? A tropical vacation.

4. If you received an extra $100 what would you spend it on? That kitten I saw at the pet store last week

5. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Go skydiving!

The truth is, when I sleep or only watch TV all day, I hate it. I feel like it such a waste of my time and it isn’t fulfilling at all. These answers make me feel like I am a lazy person, but if I answer them again and actually think about the questions I learn a few things about myself

1. Describe your perfect day. Waking up early, spending quality time with my husband, then doing something creative. A craft, writing, rearranging a room or grabbing my camera and heading outside for some photography.

2. Time flies by without you realizing it when you are doing­­­_____? Crunching numbers about something exciting. One time I spent two hours figuring out how much we would pay in rent over 5 years versus how much equity we’d have in a house after 5 years. I was factoring in interest rates and everything. To me it felt like only 30 minutes went by. Sometimes just planning in general makes time fly, I love lists (although sometimes I don't follow my lists.)

3. Where do your day dreams take you? Day dreaming usually leads me to thinking about different ways to decorate rooms in my house, throwing a great party for friends and family, coming up with different ways to save money or mentally planning for a tropical vacation (hey what can I say, vacation is in my daydreams either way.)

4. If you received an extra $100 what would you spend it on? Something decorative for my house, DIY project materials, going thrifting for some cool new finds or just save it.

5. What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Be bold. Decorate my house with color and pattern without worrying about resale (cause who knows when I'm going to sell it.) Or open a small business, even if it's just a coffee shop or a housewares store.

After thinking the answers to this question over I discovered patterns and realized how the all intertwined.  Clearly I like decorating and being creative. But how does crunching numbers and budgeting fit into that. Throwing a party? Where does that fit in? And then it hit me, what I’m most passionate about is making life beautiful on a budget.

What I mean by this is so many people believe they can’t do something because they don’t have enough money. We can’t throw a nice party because we can’t afford it. We can’t have our house nicely decorated because that would take a lot of money we don’t have. We can’t afford a vacation. I want to come up with ways to live life to the fullest while living within my means.

I also realized how I was already living this out in my life. But, narrowing them down and wrapping them up in the phrase "I'm passionate about making life beautiful on a budget."  Really helps me focus and make better decisions. Now, it's your turn.

What are you passionate about?

Note: This post was originally published on an old blog of mine, but I thought it was good information so I did some edits and republished it here.