Awhile back, I was having one of those mini-crises I always seem to be having. You know, the kind where I question everything that’s going on in my life, why I’m here, what my purpose on the planet is, if I’ve been screwing everything up, etc. As an overthinker, I tend to work my way through that thought process on a daily basis, but it’s one of those broken records that seems to really start driving you mad after a couple of weeks on repeat. That day, Boyfriend was talking me down from the metaphorical ledge (as he does so well) and one of the things that he said was that I needed to find my passion, stop wasting my time on the other crap, and go for the thing that made my heart sing. Or something like that. He generally speaks much more concisely than I do, so it was probably something more like “Pick a passion and go!”

Anyway, I agreed. Still do. There’s only one problem – I have no clue what my passion is. Well, that’s not exactly true. It’s more like I know of several things that make me happy, but I don’t really know how I’d transform them into any kind of solid life plan. Basically, when I was in my 20’s, being a starving artist sounded romantic, but now it sounds like a really stupid idea, best avoided at all costs.

In times like this, creating lists really helps me out, so this is my list of things I’m passionate about. Maybe it will help spark some ideas.

• Origami
• Photography
• Paper
• Crafts (in general)
• Organizing parties/events
• Organizing people
• Marketing/PR for parties/events
• Helping out my friends
• Making people happy and more relaxed
• Animals & animal rights issues
• Fitness / being strong & healthy
• Singing
• Writing
• Walking
• St. Francis
• The Camino de Santiago de Compostela

Out of this list of passions come a few different business/career/life ideas. As far as life goes, I’m combining my love of fitness, St. Francis, the Camino, and walking this fall when I embark on my first Camino journey – that famous 500 miles across Spain to Santiago de Compostela. I’ll probably be tying my love of writing in there, too, as I plan to write a book about the experience. Whether it will be non-fiction or fiction remains to be seen. I’m not sure if I’ll be tying photography into the journey. Obviously, I’ll be taking photos, but not sure if I’ll be taking photos in a more serious capacity, or just for my own joy. But then again, does it really matter so much?

As far as my work goes, I’m stuck in my current career cycle for the time being, and it’s not horrible to make enough money to live and pay my bills. It’s just that I’d like to be more deeply satisfied with what I do for the majority of my waking hours. I’d like to be really helping in some capacity. I guess life would feel just about perfect if I could be spending my daytime hours helping plan events, and my spare time making origami to sell at craft markets and online. To tell the truth, I’ve thought about trying to get into the movie business, but the idea terrifies me as much as it feels “right” somehow.

I think that for now, I should stick with what I’m doing, career-wise, and start making more efforts in learning to craft in paper, and in writing on a regular basis. Of course, this is very easy to say.

Have you found your passion? Do you have a clear idea of what it is, and how to follow it every day? Any stories to share, or advice to give? I’d love to hear from you.