Do what you love

Every person handles extreme life changes differently. They can either be overflowing with joy because of the new opportunities and great advances they have made, or they can be burdened by fear of what’s to come and depressed because of all the changing details. Now I’m not here to judge people who don’t like handling big life changes because I totally understand the mentality. I tend to shut down when big decisions I have never made before present themselves. However, it is not what happened in your initial reactions that determines the outcome, but what step you take after the shock wears off.

One of the biggest decisions I ever made was picking what I wanted to do with my life after graduation. And let me tell you, I was acting like a fish out of water with the flailing around and hyperventilating. There was so much pressure to be at the right firm, the right city, the right career. It’s like I thought one bad decision would cause the world to tip right over in space and then people would start walking on their hands. Let me make this clear, nothing I can do will cause the world to fall over. Although sometimes I like to think I have a lot of power and control, reality always hits and I don’t.

From my self-induced traumatic decision-making experience, I learned a few tricks that calmed the anxiety. I asked myself one questions. What would I do with my life if money were no object? Everything is too centered on gaining power, which comes from gaining money and influence that this kind of stopped my train of thought and made me take a different approach. I examined my motives, what drives me to do things, my desires, what sets my goals, and my happiness, what brings me the most joy. Warning, if you have no desire to gain happiness in life, you should probably just stop reading now. I want to do something that I am going to love doing. There is no way that I can excel in an area if I absolutely hate every part of it. It’s better to have a short life doing what you love than a long life doing what you hate. If you need an example, brace yourself for a look into how my brain works.

Brain: What would I do with my life if money were no object?
Christy: I would help people enjoy their life and embrace happiness
Brain: How are you going to do that?
Christy: I am going to prevent stress to increase happiness
Brain: What stresses people?
Christy: Marriage and money
Brain: So what will cure this stress?
Christy: Well, since 55% of people who get married end up getting divorced, and the main reason for divorce is money issues, I am going to help people with their money in order to save their marriage.
Brain: Someone’s over ambitious…

Now obviously I know I am only one person. I know that I cannot possibly change the entire world’s population to be a happier people. I know that I can’t fix every marriage. However, I also know that if I can just help one person, then I have fulfilled my goal. I am not dreaming of changing the world, that’s God’s job. But if I can simply do what I enjoy doing, start accomplishing my dreams, and helping one person at a time, then I know there is absolutely no way the world will remain unchanged. Basically, God is going to change the world (I have no doubt), and God gave me very specific gifts and talents, and I think that if I start using my talents, then the world will change.

Now your dreams may be a tad smaller in scale to mine, or they could be way bigger, either way, doing what you love is the only way to excel in the real world. If you are not passionate about what you are doing, you will burn out very quickly and the people working with you will experience a taste of the flames. So for everyone’s sake, figure out what you want to do and then do it!