Following Your Passion

It is important we follow our passions in life if we want to find happiness. Think about how much time people spend at work – and if you don’t like what you are doing – it is very hard to be content with how you spend your time. This is where taking chances come in – following your passion may not be the easier route, but in the end it will be the most rewarding. So we should all really think about what our passions are – and I challenge you to incorporate this as much as possible into your life so you can wake up every day and be excited for the day ahead of you.

 

I often look back on moments like this and think – how did I do that? But I am just thankful that at these points in my life, I made these decisions and took the more difficult route. We all go through life facing our external limitations, but it is really the limitations we give ourselves that are most difficult to break free of. But once you do it, it is so much easier to face all that is put on your plate.

I believe Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios said it best when he gave his commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford University in 2005:

 

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Life is Not a Dress Rehearsal

One thing I have learned through my experiences is that life is about choices.

As Marilyn Grey once said – “Why wait? Life is not a dress rehearsal. Quit practicing what you are going to do, and just do it.”

It is never too late in anyone’s life to “live on the edge” and take chances. Our lives really do come down to the choices we make. We can either sit back and take the easy route – or we can step up to the plate – and even if we aren’t put in challenging situations – we can seek out those challenges. No one sent me an invitation to study in England – but I went out of my way to walk to the International Studies building to get more information. I didn’t get an e-mail about the golf internship I was part of, but I went down to our career center and flipped through hundreds and hundreds of pages of internships and job openings. I had to pay for my plane ticket to fly down to Atlanta and spent my weekend going through rigorous interviews and tests – but I had the self confidence that I knew it was worth taking the chance and I succeeded.

So what do we need to do to be self-confident?

We all need to make the conscious effort to continually want to grow intellectually, morally, and professionally every day through our entire work and family lives. We need to always be asking ourselves in the back of our minds – Do I really know as much as I should? Am I still learning? Is there more I can be doing? And also, we should ask ourselves – Am I a good person? Do people want to be around me?

A few months ago I was reading Real Simple magazine and in it were people’s New Year resolutions and one woman’s resolution really stuck with me. She said – she tries so hard to be a good employee, co-worker and volunteer – that she goes home at the end of the day and is exhausted. The people that she loves the most are the people who get to spend time with her at this point in her day and her resolution was to give her loved ones the best of her – not was left over when all of her other life “duties” were done. To truly be successful – we need to succeed at work and at home – this is what will create the ultimate happiness that so many people strive for.

And even if you fail at any of these tasks – we are still building self confidence. By reaching out and looking for challenges that others may be too afraid to try – we are already a step ahead of the rest. We need to seek to find a purpose in life and we need to seek to make a difference.

Defining True Happiness

I wonder if this person asking me why I live in Utica ever had these opportunities?

So, after I asked this person all these questions, and tell them about all the things I have had over the past 28 years, I think my biggest question for them would be “Are you happy? Because I am.”

I have had so many wonderful opportunities in my life and I think I was able to do all of these because I took chances. We all know now it is not safe to sit on a killer whale, but I did it. Traveling around the world and leaving home can be a bit scary, but I took the chance and loved every minute of it. Moving to Saratoga where I knew no one and lived out of a hotel for a month while I found a place to live, is not something a lot of people would do, but I decided it was a chance of a lifetime so I left my comfort zone and moved away.

It is these life experiences that I have had that have allowed me to be happy and content and to be ready to settle down in Sauquoit. It also makes me smile when all these great memories flash through my mind when someone asks me why I chose to live in the Utica area. And I think next someone asks me this question – I am going to ask them how they have gotten so lucky to live in such a beautiful place like Utica, New York.