Here's the thing...

Not everyone gets a “passion”. What I mean by this is, when we’re children, the question is always the same, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. The answer is typically something like astronaut, cowboy, dinosaur, etc… how many times have you ever heard a child (or teenager for that matter) ever say, “I want to be an accountant!”. Holy pressure. Being asked what you want to do for the rest of your life before you can even count to 100 (I’m exaggerating, but you get it) is already subconsciously giving that life form some kind of existential crisis, before they even know what an existential crisis is. It’s. Not. Kosher. It’s doubly not okay because how often do we actually end up fulfilling that dream. Setting people up for failure from the jump. How often do we actually get to become an astronaut, major league baseball player, or a velociraptor? Not often.

This notion that everyone “finds their passion” and has a fulfilling life is nonsense. Having that idea placed in your head from such an early age, and then ending up not following that particular path, can lead you to believe that there must be something wrong with you as a person, because you don’t love what you do every day as an adult. Sometimes, it’s just as simple as making a living. Let’s start normalizing that fact that not everyone figures out what they’re “supposed to do” with their life, and simply make it okay to live a good life, whatever that may look like. Unless you’re incredibly fortunate and don’t have to work to make money, to pay bills, that are a necessity for living, everyone ends up getting a job at some point. Some start in their teens, some in college, some are lucky enough to not have to work until their mid-twenties when they head into the career they’re now using to pay off the debt they’ve undoubtedly just accumulated. The point is, mostly everyone, works. We don’t have to enjoy it, it would be nice to not hate what you do on a day-to-day basis, but at the end of the day, if it’s just a job, that’s alright.

Force feeding such a fanciful idea can lead to an abundance of issues later in life. The most basic being disappointment. Disappointment can cover a variety of things; disappointment with your job or jobs (because there will never be just one). Disappointment with how your life is turning out because this job should have made all the difference. Disappointment that you’re not happy with your job, life, romantic partner, and so on. This then bleeds into feeling like a failure because you’re not as fulfilled as the person next to you, so it must be you that’s the issue. So, you switch from one job to another to another expecting different outcomes but it’s always that same familiar feeling of knowing this isn’t the one. Failure lends itself to frustration, frustration of feeling unfulfilled, frustration at feeling unhappy, frustration about your frustration. It’s an endless cycle.

Lets do better.