Yesterday I spoke to one of my close friends who lives in Boston and she seemed like a new person. The reason? My friend had recently reconnected with her two passions in life: running and reading. For the past two years my friend had been extremely stressed out and rather miserable working 70-80 hour weeks as an attorney for a large firm. An in-house attorney position with a company was presented to her and she accepted the new position without a second thought. Now my friend works more like 50 hours per week which means she has free time to pursue interests outside of work. With her new free time, my friend is training for her 2nd marathon and she is also taking a creative writing/reading class.

At the age of 30 my friend realized her passions had been put on the backburner for a number of years and as a result, she lost sight of what energizes her. When we fail to live a life filled with passion we become listless, unmotivated, and trudge through life. Passion is like fuel for our internal fire. We absolutely need passion in order to feel alive!

Some people are passionate about their work. Ideally we should all be passioante about what we do for 40+ hours per week but I realize this isn't always the case. If we aren't passionate about our work, we should pursue outside interests that challenge us, engage us, and ultimately help us continue to grow as individuals. When people are struggling to find their passions in life, I ask them what activities they used to love to do when they were younger. I also ask people what they have also wanted to try. Maybe it entails taking a cooking class, learning a foreign language, volunteering, or taking up a new sport. Sometimes it takes trying things out before you really find something that lights your fire.

Life isn't meant to be boring. Life is meant to energize us and make us wake-up every morning looking forward to a new day!

So here's to living a passionate life!

Colleen Canney is a Career, Life, and Wellness Coach based in Seattle, WA. She coaches clients around the US both via telephone and in-person. For a FREE 20 minute consultation, contact Colleen today.

www.colleencanney.com
colleencanney@live.com
(414) 412-1552