Here’s to Fulfillment from Choosing Your Passion Over Money

Who else who walks this earth vaults easily over everything he or she loves simply because he or she feels like it is something that may lead to his or her passion? Who else would do everything it takes all for that strong desire for something? If you are one of whom I am talking about, well you are on the right page. It is nice to have met someone who does have the same predicament as I do.

At my age, I have been confused about what my real passion is. To be quite honest, I have a great deal of things I love and enjoy doing, but I don’t think these qualify to the definition of the word passion.

Cliché as it may sound, passion, for some people, is something that relates to a strong and extreme fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything.  You might be asking about what sets passion apart from the words like determination, conviction, and love since all of them may refer to things that you do which constitute strong emotions as well. These words are commonly used interchangeably.  These absolutely depend on how you are going to use them.

Whichever you wish to use to identify that extreme fondness, it does not matter as long as you get to work on what makes you happy, what gives you focus, and what provides you with freedom to express your feelings.

The money path, on the other hand, is absolutely an enticing road to take. Who wouldn’t want to choose the path which will make you financially stable? After all, most of us work to make a living and having landed on a good job makes life way easier. Choosing to chase money, to some people, means choosing happiness as these two things are sometimes linked to each other. By that we mean, the notion that money is tantamount to happiness.

You might have been fraught with questions which continue to bother you, whether you have to pursue your passion or choose money. If you choose your passion, how far can it get you? If you choose the latter, how happy can you become if you take the money path?

Here are some of the reasons why you need not to choose the “money path” but instead pursue what makes you passionate.

It’s the heart and passion that make the difference.

Being able to land a job where you think your heart truly belongs to is like waking up every single day with specific goals and vision implanted in your mind that keep you going.  How great it is to think that whatever you do at work feels like it’s adding value to your world. That what you do feels untiring and pleasurable because you get to do what you love.

You might be able to find that job that excites you every 15^th and 30^th of the month and satisfies your wants and needs. The money path might provide you with all you need and grant you happiness you can find in material things, but it cannot fill in what’s lacking in your heart.

It is indeed, the heart and passion that make the big difference. It happens when no matter how monotonous your daily routine at work becomes, you still find a hundred reasons to be happy about and to look forward to. That regardless of “fed-up” and “burnout” moments unfolding in front of you, there is still that strong force that pulls you and keeps you rooted to what you love and enjoy doing since you have the heart in everything you do. That’s exactly what passion is about.

It creates and provides more chances of growth and development.

Ramnarace (2020) mentioned in her blog that having chosen the wrong career is one of the reasons that make a person unhappy at work. This is when the path you chose is not the path that leads you to your dream job. When this happens, you feel disengaged and discontented every single day for you might think that your job is merely something you have to do, instead of something you could ever enjoy. It feels like you are obliged to accomplish a task more than you are called and cut out for that field. This can absolutely take away the chances to grow and develop in your career since you are less motivated, disengaged, and discontented.

The Philippines’ job satisfaction level dropped from 5.25 in 2016 to its current rating of 4.97 on a 10-point scale, as cited by Jobstreet.com.  Moreover, the website also mentioned that in 2017 Job Happiness Index, the key factors associated with unhappiness at work are lack of career development and training opportunities, as well as the management style of a company’s leadership team. Read more https://www.jobstreet.com.ph/career-resources/filipinos-less-happy-workplace-2017/

It was mentioned that the lack of career development along with the other reasons, greatly affects the job satisfaction of Filipinos. Although it was not stated, the phrase “unhappiness at work” is more of a great deal of concern. It becomes worse when lack of career development gets on the line.

On the other hand, when your job is the work you have always dreamed of having, you become as motivated as you can be. This alone can lead you to a number of opportunities for growth and development. Motivation at work is sometimes linked to your dream job. You become motivated and happy despite overwhelming circumstances for you are passionate about what you do. Over time, you will see how far it can get you just by being passionate about what you do. You will get promoted and be recognized in the field. What else could be as fulfilling as getting opportunities for success through your passion?

It fuels your creativity.

Creativity runs on passion. A key emotional resource for creative work is passion, as cited by Pringle (2019). By this we mean that when you are passionate about what you do, you can fire up your creativity. For it is in passion that you ignite your creativity to do something innovative and artistic.

Imagine yourself working with something your whole life has desired to accomplish and do great things. When you are passionate about your job, you never run out of creative ideas, artistic thoughts, and imaginative designs. In a matter of seconds, you can have as many lightbulb-moments as you can have for you are really into it.

Creativity is, more often than not, fueled by passion. If you are beset by a grueling situation at work, you may find yourself coming up with different solutions to overcome it. You get to generate more possibilities of getting the issues and concerns resolved. It is because you care about your job and the significant changes that it contributes to the people and more importantly, to the world. This may never occur to you, but it could be your passion that ignites your creativity at work.

It provides pleasure in the workplace.

While having landed on a job which makes you feel like you are not cut out for it may take you to an unpleasant working environment, being engaged in a passion-related work, on the other hand, provides a pleasurable workplace. This might be linked to having colleagues who share the same passion that you have. Working with people who like stuff as much as you do can bring positive environment that can encourage productivity and growth.

Not only that it can create a pleasurable working environment who are filled with people who share the same passion that you have within yourself, but also a physical environment that contains every corner that motivates you and inspires you to work smart and produce results. A workstation can also greatly affect your motivation. When you see things around which constantly remind you of your passion and your distinct purpose, you become motivated and totally attached to that nature of work.

Therefore, a passion-focused or passion-designed workspace can rekindle your drive to work productively and eventually lead you to a path where you can grow and develop more. Lucky are you when you are placed into that kind of working environment for it will provide you with pleasure while getting tasks done.

It can be turned into profit.

Whereas you are more focused on landing on a high-paying job, you tend to forget that you can also turn your passion into a profitable career. This is one thing that slips your mind when you only work because you are driven by the bills you have to pay, your monthly dues, and other unexpected expenses.

Your passion can be a profitable career as well, if you only know how to do it. Previously, we mentioned that when you love what you do, it never feels untiring to work on with a task related to it. Of course, we are humans. We also get physically exhausted and drained at work. However, as we highlighted, if you have the heart in what you do, you care about it, your passion outweighs your exhaustion and disappointments.

Turning your passion into profit comes with time management. By that we mean, after you got out from your full-time work, you may spend time doing your passion at home. This can mean an extension of efforts and hard work, but again, if you love what you are doing, you may never feel like you are fed up with it. It does make you attached more to what you enjoy doing. It keeps you even more passionate about what you do. You can also take pride in it – in getting the best of both worlds. You get to feel more fulfilled, accomplished and proud.

The Core

If you are a passionate individual, you are no stranger to frustration, disappointment, pressure and stress. That is because you are human, too. You get tired when things get rough at work. You become tied up when you need to meet the deadlines. You may feel disappointed when you fail to accomplish a task. But what matters most is you learn, pull yourself up, and move forward. Let your passion keep you going.

Your passion can also change over time. It can also evolve. There are people who experience that. When that happens, you don’t have to worry about it. Evolving in this context means developing gradually often into a better, more complex, or more advanced version of yourself. It may not happen that quick as it does slowly. So, if you find yourself changing passions quickly, you might want to ask yourself whether those can be considered as passions or not, and if those engagements actually qualify to the word “passion”.

The decision is still in your hands. We may be living in a world that places greater demand for making a living in order to survive that we forget to actually live. As what Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said, “Live a life that’s worth living, one where you do what you want to do, pursue your passions.”

We might be overly focused on earning money that we overlook the essence of life. Life is not just about making a living to survive and to exist. We are meant to do something greater than existing. At the end of the day, we will one day wither like leaves and at the end of it all, you will get to ask yourself whether you made it to the end of your purpose or not. That’s for me the real success that we should aim at which you can only make happen through pursuing your passion.

References:

Filipinos are less happy in the workplace – JobStreet.com. (2018, May 21). JobStreet Philippines. https://www.jobstreet.com.ph/career-resources/filipinos-less-happy-workplace-2017/

Pringle, Z. (2019, October 21). Creativity Runs on Passion. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creativity-the-art-and-science/201910/creativity-runs-passion

Ramnarace, C. (2020, March 2). 8 Reasons You’re Unhappy at Work. HerMoney. https://hermoney.com/earn/work-life-balance/unhappy-at-work/