Self Care Month & The Curiosity driven life

At the Atomium (Brussels, 2019)

Hey Guys. Welcome to the month of March and another week of me sharing ‘Life as I go’. It is interesting that we are already in the 3rd month of the year… how time flies!

I declared this month self care month for myself with an intent to be deliberate about caring for myself and so I have a nice list of things I intend to do this month. I started with a 5 day smoothie only detox plan. The plan was really good, my energy level was great and it was a great way to kickstart my metabolism. Whilst weight loss was not a primary outcome for me, after the 5 days, I was 2.9kg down which was a really good plus as I am still on the journey to my ideal weight. So overall, my month has been off to a great start and I will share more of my self care actions as they unfold 🙂

I was thinking really hard on what to write this week as I didn’t have any particular ‘AHA’ moment this week to talk about; then I thought to share about a topic I had struggled with in the past. It is about ‘following your passion’.

For many years, I always wondered what my passion was; what that one thing is that is supposed to keep me up at night with strong and uncontrollable emotion and that will drive my life’s purpose. There were so many books, messages, podcasts etc. about identifying and following your passion; and quotes like “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life”

Most of these messages were always centred around the fact that there is that one thing which should light up a flame within you and which you should organize your life around; something that should keep you awake at night and that you should be able to risk it all for; and that if you are not working in line with your passion, you are living a ‘purposeless’ life.

After listening to some of these school of thoughts , I would feel stressed and confused as I had no clue what my passion was. Some days, I will go into hours of self introspection, take quizzes, hoping something will click and that I will discover my passion. Other days, I will burden Kay with the fact that I felt I was not doing enough with my life and that there had to be more to why I am here than what I am doing today. I had this burning desire to know what my passion was which typically left me stressed and anxious…. and then something changed sometime in 2019…. I got a different perspective.

The first entrance to my mindset change was a podcast by Oprah with Elizabeth Gilbert titled ‘The Curiosity Driven Life’. In this podcast, Elizabeth talked about relieving yourself of the stress and anxiety of discovering that big thing and following your curiosity. Whilst passion requires that big burning flame, all curiosity asks of you is that you turn your head and follow the clues life throws your way; sometimes it might be nothing, and sometimes it could lead you to the big thing. “Your curiosity just might lead you to your passion“

Passion is a tower of flame, but curiosity is a tiny tap on the shoulder — a little whisper in the ear that says, “Hey, that’s kind of interesting…” Passion is rare; curiosity is everyday. Curiosity is therefore a lot easier to reach at at times than full-on passion — and the stakes are lower, easier to manage.

With this new understanding, I became more accepting of not knowing the big thing yet and being okay with where I am here and now. I however decided to make deliberate effort to move in the direction of my curiosity. This has helped me open my mind to create and chase so many new things; things like starting a blog because I had a desire to share my thoughts with a community; starting a book club, going after jobs I find interesting in my career journey, and creating moments in my personal life.

It is beautiful if you have already identified your passion, but if you have not, worry not. You can still live a beautiful and wholesome life. The journey is different for each individual, you just need to make sure you are not sleepwalking through your life. Be awake through it and keep guiding it in the direction of your curiosity and maybe just one day, you will find that spark; and even if you don’t, you will still have had a beautiful journey.

I still haven’t found my big thing but I am happy to continue the journey taking steps in the direction of my curiosity 🙂

Do you know your passion? If yes, how did you discover this? If No, do you feel like something is missing and how do you manage it?

Note: “The time will pass anyway, you can either spend it creating the life you want or living the life you don’t want. The choice is yours”

Wishing you a beautiful week!

Love,

Nifemi