This “Week of Passion” started after watching a speech Elizabeth Gilbert gave with the suggestion of not living a life of passion but instead to be willing to flit among your various interests. Her message is more complex than that, yet I think my summary is adequate for my present purpose here.
One reason her talk sparked me was because I was one of those people who couldn’t decide which of my many interests, diverse talents, and passions to attach myself to for a career. Some of the things I loved didn’t seem like anything I could charge for — or more accurately that anyone would pay for. Others felt like they were in populated areas where lots of qualified people were already doing that. Sure, I’d bring my own style to it, but I’d have to find a way to be heard through all the ruckus of the people already there.
I felt badly that I couldn’t come up with business ideas like my entrepreneurial friends did. Some of the churn out one successful business after another! Why not me?
One day I realized that fretting about my lack of focused passion wasn’t going to help me land on a new career. I decided to trust the universe to show me which expertise or aptitude would be a successful business theme.
That recognition gave me permission to continue exploring interests and the world as my interests guided me, and growing without stress. What a relief! There was new-found freedom which gave me more energy to dive into my life and curiosity of the world around me. I’m such an education junky I followed those things that enthused me with more vigor.
Through that path I felt like a bumblebee, buzzing from one interest and exciting possibility to another. Like a bumblebee does, I’d learn, after lighting on that “brightly-colored flower” or “sweet-smelling blossom”, it might not be nearly as interesting close-up as it had been from afar. In some flowers there wouldn’t be as much nectar as I wanted. And then there were the blossoms that had even more nectar than anticipated. What a honey pot, or gold mine!
Flitting around like a bumblebee satisfies me. Gathering nectar and pollen everywhere I go adds to what I can bring to any career or job I settle on. That pollen and nectar makes my life more interesting too. That approach to life is satisfying to me too; gratifying even. And, the process worked.
I’m off and flying with my new entrepreneurial passion. Don’t think I’m giving up my flower visits for one second, though, because that flitting about still adds to the energy I’m giving my new career path. And that flitting about keeps me engaged in life more than a narrow focus would.
You too can follow your passions without fear of being a failure because you don’t land on one interest for your career. The world is filled with people who pulled lots of things together for one career. The world also has numerous successful people who changed careers as their interest in one career waned, or the nectar ran out of a career they had landed on.
You don’t have a passion? Don’t worry! Enjoy all of your passions and see what comes from them. You can stick with one thing, as others successfully do, or you can be the best bumblebee out there and do lots of fabulous things with your bountiful bumblebee passion.