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\u2019s an easy task. You just go out and do the things that you like. The crazy thing about life is that if you don\u2019t prioritize time to do the things that you enjoy and before you know it has been months since you\u2019ve actually done them. For example, all of 2021 I can\u2019t tell you a single time that I did something for myself that I truly enjoyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s crazy to sit and think wow \u2013 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\u2019ve accomplished what I set out to do, my life really hasn\u2019t 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\u2019s why I decided that for the rest of this year I\u2019m focusing on myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s just you and whatever you like to do. Rediscovering each other one day at a time. It\u2019s a simple act of saying, \u201cToday I\u2019m going to take my camera out and take pictures. Of what? No idea. But I\u2019m going to do it anyway.\u201d 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\u2019re here to do one thing and one thing only \u2013 to live.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As we age, our passions change as well. If you would\u2019ve asked me in my twenties what it is that I enjoyed the most my answer would\u2019ve 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\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you happen to have an online dating profile you know the generic question for your passions is \u201cWhat are your interests?\u201d 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\u2019t 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\u2019re cool or is it because we actually do love them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cfit in\u201d or act unenthused about something that might make us seem less \u201ccool.\u201d I\u2019m at the point in my life where I know I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, one of my weird passions is blowing bubbles. Hand me a bubble wand and some soap and water and it\u2019s 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\u2019ve ever spent on Amazon. <\/strong>There\u2019s something about blowing bubbles that takes me back to my childhood where I was carefree and life was rent-free – the glory days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, I\u2019m not just dedicating my time to playing with bubbles, I\u2019m 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\u2019m finally starting to find those sparks of joy that I\u2019ve 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>\n\n\n\n

P.S. If you need me, I\u2019ll be over in the corner playing with my fancy bubble gun.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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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\u2019s an easy task. You just go out and do the things that you like. The crazy thing about life is that if you don\u2019t prioritize time to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[437,436,311,422,194,433,435,434,430],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n