I’m sipping on masala chai from my local grocer and eating a very tiny slice of madeira cake, my dads favourite. These last few nights, I’ve been restless and confused, journalling odd entries here and there, messaging Matias at the early hours of the morning only for him to wake up with an abundant amount of rollercoaster emotions from me. In short, I’m feeling quite lost.
There is so much pressure on school leavers and young adults to find their passions, find yourself and find your career and to intercept the three in a way that works in our world logistically. Some people were able to do this, and I applaud them, they were the lucky few. But for the most of us, we had no clue. Five years after high-school, and I still have no clue.
What I’ve learnt tonight after an hour of sipping endless cups of tea and pacing my bedroom is that it is perfectly alright not to know. I used to be a sole believer in the phrase, ‘follow your passion’, I am a romantic. I’ve realised how incredibly elitist it is to assert that we have just one passion. That it is our goal to find it and to pursue it, at the exclusion of all else. It presupposes that you firstly know what it is in the first place and setting you up for tunnel vision. There’s no way you can grow as you potentially can if you’re only looking in one direction.
Instead, I wholeheartedly believe in following your curiosity. Passions change as you get older, as you experience more of life. It expands exponentially and you begin to see that there is not just one path made for each person. We are much more intricate and complicated and complex.
Curiosity is much more dynamic, it’s a force that moves as you do. There may be an array of things that you can do in your life, because there is an array of things that pike up your curiosity at any given moment. You're allowed to have different career paths throughout your life. You will be infinitely changed with each new experience, and you are in control of what experiences you choose. That is curiosity, that is where the lessons are, and doing those things is where you will find yourself.
I’ve shared a worksheet made by the lovely lavendaire below. It’s a venn diagram based on the Japanese concept of ikigai; meaning, a reason for living. I sat down and wrote my answers for my own dear life at twenty-two, but acknowledge that in two, five, ten years time, it will be completely different.
Know that you already have your own gifts, strengths and talents, but as you continue through, you will also pick up new skills, ideas and passions. Be driven by the unknown, challenge yourself.
“Life's tricky baby, stay in your magic."
There is so much pressure on school leavers and young adults to find their passions, find yourself and find your career and to intercept the three in a way that works in our world logistically. Some people were able to do this, and I applaud them, they were the lucky few. But for the most of us, we had no clue. Five years after high-school, and I still have no clue.
What I’ve learnt tonight after an hour of sipping endless cups of tea and pacing my bedroom is that it is perfectly alright not to know. I used to be a sole believer in the phrase, ‘follow your passion’, I am a romantic. I’ve realised how incredibly elitist it is to assert that we have just one passion. That it is our goal to find it and to pursue it, at the exclusion of all else. It presupposes that you firstly know what it is in the first place and setting you up for tunnel vision. There’s no way you can grow as you potentially can if you’re only looking in one direction.
Instead, I wholeheartedly believe in following your curiosity. Passions change as you get older, as you experience more of life. It expands exponentially and you begin to see that there is not just one path made for each person. We are much more intricate and complicated and complex.
Curiosity is much more dynamic, it’s a force that moves as you do. There may be an array of things that you can do in your life, because there is an array of things that pike up your curiosity at any given moment. You're allowed to have different career paths throughout your life. You will be infinitely changed with each new experience, and you are in control of what experiences you choose. That is curiosity, that is where the lessons are, and doing those things is where you will find yourself.
I’ve shared a worksheet made by the lovely lavendaire below. It’s a venn diagram based on the Japanese concept of ikigai; meaning, a reason for living. I sat down and wrote my answers for my own dear life at twenty-two, but acknowledge that in two, five, ten years time, it will be completely different.
Know that you already have your own gifts, strengths and talents, but as you continue through, you will also pick up new skills, ideas and passions. Be driven by the unknown, challenge yourself.
“Life's tricky baby, stay in your magic."
