Discovering Passions
I am an adventurous spirit. I love trying new things. I love change. I love exploring. I would venture to say I have always been this way, even during seasons of my life when trying new things wasn’t easy.
What are your hobbies? What do you love to do?
You may find it surprising, but most adults can’t answer these questions. I often hear:
“I don’t really have any hobbies.”
“Chasing my kids is all I have time for.”
“I forgot how to have fun".”
“I used to love to write (or dance, or draw, or travel, or hike, etc)
Why do adults quit engaging in hobbies and interests? The most common reasons I hear are lack of time, money, babysitters, or energy. Sometimes, people give these excuses, but underneath, they wouldn’t know what to do if they had additional time, money, energy, or babysitters. Sometimes we stop allowing ourselves to want to try new things. We stop allowing ourselves to dream, to wonder, to explore, etc. Life gets busy, our spirits get trampled upon, other things take priority and before we know it, we are going through the motions of life without consciously participating in a lot of it.
Yes, I understand the obstacles mentioned above are real. I have lived through it as well. I had young children as a single parent and had each of those obstacles at the same time, too. There are seasons in life, and we have to find beauty, meaning, AND engaging activities within each of those seasons. There is something to gain from anything, and everything, we try and learn. When I was in my young child raising season, I read a lot of books in place of going on real adventures in the mountains, or to another country, like I dreamt of. I also read to learn new things. When the kids went to bed I wrote and did puzzles. I loved going to festivals and events that were free and child friendly. Sure, there were plenty of other things I wanted to do, but I had obstacles preventing me from doing them as much, or as well as I wanted, but I worked with what I had. Reflecting back, I wish I would have embraced and sought out more joy when I was doing the simple things while my kids were young. My head was often times in the clouds daydreaming though.
Sometimes we stop allowing ourselves to believe we can try new things. Maybe we think we are too old to learn something new, too out of shape to try a new activity, or not smart enough to learn a new hobby. This is the protective part of your brain designed to keep us safe and comfortable. This part of our brain has been conditioned by society to believe things like, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, “passion is a young man’s game” etc. As a society, we put our kids in every activity under the sun, so they are exposed to new things in an attempt to spark passion and allow them to discover what they like. Adults are no different. We have to continue to do the same things with ourselves as we enter into new seasons. We have to continually explore different activities with each new year, new season, new wisdom, etc.
When I entered into the season of “older kids”, I started exploring things I could do with, or without kids. I took brazilian jiu jitsu classes and earned my blue belt. I competed in jiu jitsu tournaments. I learned to mountain bike. I traveled miles and miles and learned to jump mud puddles (I never did learn to pop a wheelie). I entered a 38 mile mountain bike race just for the experience. I got back into hiking and drug my kids along with me. I started running and read all of the books on how to be a better runner. I learned how to weight lift and did two body building shows. The pictures are on the internet and pray daily that none of their friends see them. I learned about through-hiking the entire Continental Divide Trail system from Mexico to Canada. Wouldn’t that be amazing someday? It wasn’t in my cards at that time, but I learned how to pack a backpack for overnight trips and started going on solo trips every other weekend when my kids were with their dad. I also tried wine tasting and learned how it is made. Making my own wine is still on my bucket list. I took classes on emotional intelligence and taught myself how to build a website. I was constantly looking for different ways to fill my time, but more importantly, to ignite my soul. I find that I am happiest when I am growing intellectually or spiritually. Trying new things creates growth.
When my girls morphed into teenagers and were spending all of their times with friends, I decided to switch careers and learn how to build a business and invest in real estate. That was an entire five year chapter of expanding, learning, making new friends, building new skills. During this time, I also learned yoga, meditation, traveled extensively, learned to ride a Harley, learned to kayak, and ventured into writing again. I learned Muay Thai and kickboxing and did an amateur kickboxing fight. I won, by the way! The experience was one of the most exhilarating uplifting moments of my life. I still have dreams of learning to fly a plane, doing a through-hike on the Continental Divide Trail, learning Italian and Spanish, hitchhiking across Europe, and doing a year long charity project in a foreign country.
Why do I think trying new things is so important? We don’t know what we truly love in life until we try it. We make friends who have similar interests, which opens door to great relationships and a strong network. We manage our stress by turning off our work brains and engaging our creative learning brain. We expand our minds and our souls. When we go to new places, we see new things, experience different cultures, and eat new food. I recently returned home from a trip to Sedona, Arizona. We ate Thai and Indian food three times in 2 days because I wanted to try as many new kinds of Indian food as possible. I ordered random things and relished every minutes. I never would have guessed I would love it so much. Now, I am going to learn how to cook it because, why not!?
Are you feeling burnout on life? Are you wondering what the meaning of your life is? Have you questioned how to be happier? Start here. It is simple. Commit to trying a new activity twice a month. Find a completely new style of music, and give it a shot. Find somewhere, near or far, you have never been before and make plans for a trip. Even if you have been to a place before, go with fresh eyes and try something completely different (including food) that you normally wouldn’t do. I promise, your life with ignite and your eyes will open to all of the beautiful possibilities around you.
