Thinking About a Career Change?

19 Ways to Rediscover Your Passion

- BRANDI-ANN UYEMURA

For some, passion seems innate. They are envied by those of us endlessly in search of it. Even the fortunate who are blessed with a great career they love can run into obstacles—like a pandemic.

If you’re trying to find a way to combine your passion and your paycheck, here are some ideas that might help.

1 ASK WHAT CAUSES YOU PAIN.

“We all have the ability to take whatever pain we experience and trans-mute it through passion,” says David Karchere, author of Becoming a Sun: Emotional & Spiritual Intelligence for a Happy, Fulfilling Life. Sometimes the situations, events, and people that cause you pain can uncover a life purpose. For example, if you suffered alone with chronic illness, it may spur you to create a support group for patients in a similar situation. If you grew up feeling unsupportive of your dreams, you might coach others in supporting theirs.

2 HONE IN ON YOUR ENVY.

Those feelings of envy generated by social media can be put to good use. They can teach you a lot about what you’re neglecting in your own life. If you feel a bout of envy when you hear about a friend who is becoming a therapist, mine those feelings.

What do they mean for you?

3 ADOPT A KOREAN TRADITION.

A Korean ceremony called doljabi consists of placing different items such as food, money, a pencil, or a book in front of a baby on his or her first birthday. What children pick is believed to predict their future. In your own passion challenge, peruse the internet, search for images that excite you, and pull them together on a board (which you can make private) on Pinterest.

4 THINK SPIRITUAL.