Part of this journey of finding the pieces of me that I feel have been missing or hiding lately is rediscovering my passions. You would think that’s an easy task. You just go out and do the things that you like. The crazy thing about life is that if you don’t prioritize time to do the things that you enjoy and before you know it has been months since you’ve actually done them. For example, all of 2021 I can’t tell you a single time that I did something for myself that I truly enjoyed.

An entire year without going hiking every weekend, spending time in nature, photography, and dancing. You can add writing to that list too since my only blog post last year was when my cousin Ethan died. I was so career-focused and concentrated on advancing my career that I forgot to actually enjoy living in the meantime. It’s crazy to sit and think wow – all I did was work and study and go to the gym but that was my life for a solid year and it carried into the beginning of 2022 too. I think focusing on my career would put me in a better position and now that I’ve accomplished what I set out to do, my life really hasn’t changed much because of it. Do I regret focusing on my career? No. Do I regret not making time to enjoy life while focusing on my career? Definitely. That’s why I decided that for the rest of this year I’m focusing on myself.

This brings me back to my passions. Rediscovering your passions is like dating. Except there is no one sitting across from you at the table. It’s just you and whatever you like to do. Rediscovering each other one day at a time. It’s a simple act of saying, “Today I’m going to take my camera out and take pictures. Of what? No idea. But I’m going to do it anyway.” Dedicating an hour of your time to just being present. We get so wrapped up in routines and simply surviving the day that we forget that we’re here to do one thing and one thing only – to live.

As we age, our passions change as well. If you would’ve asked me in my twenties what it is that I enjoyed the most my answer would’ve been partying, drinking tequila straight from the bottle (still a fan of tequila), and eating any and everything. My body and my brain are both grateful that we’ve passed that mess of a stage. Now, if you ask me what my passions are they are anything that makes me feel present and grateful for the beauty in my surroundings and just life in general.

If you happen to have an online dating profile you know the generic question for your passions is “What are your interests?” and we all just fill in the blanks with simple things that make us seem cool to others. Hiking strangely seems to be the most popular, but I don’t see half of the people I know out on the trails so it makes me wonder. Are we saying that we like things just because we think they’re cool or is it because we actually do love them?

Our passions should be the last thing that we lie about and yet it tends to be that we either over exaggerate how much we care about something to make us “fit in” or act unenthused about something that might make us seem less “cool.” I’m at the point in my life where I know I’m weird and I embrace the things about me that make me different. If we were all the same the world would be boring as Hell.

For example, one of my weird passions is blowing bubbles. Hand me a bubble wand and some soap and water and it’s over. Cheap entertainment for hours. I will even admit that my personal birthday gift to myself this year was a bubble bazooka that lights up. The best $35 that I’ve ever spent on Amazon. There’s something about blowing bubbles that takes me back to my childhood where I was carefree and life was rent-free – the glory days.

Obviously, I’m not just dedicating my time to playing with bubbles, I’m adding time into my busy schedule to go for a walk in my favorite local park. Going to art events like the immersive Van Gogh experience that was recently in my city and even throwing in a few concerts here and there. The point is after so long, I feel like I’m finally starting to find those sparks of joy that I’ve been so desperately searching for. If you have felt similar to me as if a piece of you has been missing, I suggest taking 30 minutes of your day to do just one thing that brings you joy and puts a smile not only on your face but on your soul too.

P.S. If you need me, I’ll be over in the corner playing with my fancy bubble gun.