TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | DEC 2018 35
Following Your Passion
I have spent most of my adult years following my passions. After
graduation I was shoved into engineering, which is what we all did in
Detroit... some sort of auto industry work. I knew after one year in that
I did not “fit” there. Financially my future could have been stable, but I
knew in my soul that it was more important to be happy.
Years later, after traveling the country and waitressing to support my
soul searching, I landed back in Detroit and was pulled to a job at a
Gym. Hired on immediately as a coach, I climbed my way up to be a
general manager of over five gyms and a personal trainer and weight
management coach. Today I have graduated as a Life Health Coach that
helps others meet their goals.
So I ask you to think about your passion in life (other than being able to
live on the most beautiful Island of misfits in the world.
Even if you know what your “passion” is (as if there is just one thing you
can be passionate about), there are so many other factors that matter.
For example:
• Can you earn a living doing it?
• Would it still be your passion if you had to do it every day to make
money?
The point here is not that you need to have firm answers to these
questions before you even get started. But in a world where bills must
be paid, vast sums of loans must be paid off, and competition is fierce,
to neglect the more subtle nuances and practical implications of setting
out to get paid to do what you love is dangerous advice.
Secondly, and more importantly, “following your passion” is not helpful
because it makes it sound so easy. It’s hard, it takes time, and it takes
serious dedication to the cause.
It means many late nights battling fear and anxiety, doubting yourself
and wondering if you’re crazy, naïve, or unrealistic for pursuing the path
By Melonie DePalma, Health Coach
you’ve chosen. (Yes, I state this from personal experience!)
It often means having dangerously low bank accounts for much longer
than you’d hoped, until you figure out how to get the income piece to
work.
First, you have to understand legacy: what you care about, what you are
driven by, and what change you want to create in the world, for others and
for future generations. This goes far beyond locking yourself in a room
with a journal and pen. It involves deep introspection to be sure, but also
LOTs of conversations, fact-finding, and testing your assumptions about
what will allow you to work with a deep and personal sense of purpose.
Understanding your legacy starts with the understanding that you will
probably never arrive at a singular answer as to what is meaningful to
you (if you do, it won’t last forever). But you can reach progressive levels
of clarity that will lead you to more fulfilling opportunities—which will
in turn influence and alter your vision of meaningful work. It’s a neverending
cycle of self-discovery and self-creation.
Second, you need to seek mastery by understanding what skills are
valued by the market you want to be working in, what skills you can and
want to become excellent at relative to your competition, and how you
can align the two.
Third, you need to seek freedom: cultivating and exchanging in such
a way that you will progressively gain the ability to do work that is in
alignment with your gift, on your own terms.
Freedom can mean working less, working remotely never leaving our
Island, working with influencers and leaders, or working on projects with
greater creativity and impact. What freedom (or impact, for that matter)
means to you is for you to discover and decide.
All told, finding meaningful work is a continually unfolding process. Think
about what comes easy to your soul, your soul work. Listen to your heart
and soul and enjoy the path of discovery.