Have you found your passion?

Do you remember your first job? Maybe not your first career, but your first true job where you were paid a wage for a task? Mine was when I was 14 yrs old. I was hired by a hotel to scrape ice off car windows in the dead of winter, at 4:30 in the morning. My family lived in northern Iowa, so it was no small chore. Looking back, it was probably just as bad for my father who had to wake up just as early and drive me to work. (Sorry dad.) I made a mind-blowing $4 an hour and sometimes scored a free hot cocoa. This video https://bit.ly/2Lm0Djg from the King of Queens shows why the hotel I worked for thought it was such a good idea to have a kid get up so early in the morning to scrape the ice off of customers cars. I feel Doug’s pain.  

Some jobs are certainly better than others, but, like my first job, some are just downright ugly. You can read any number of self-help books that will try and convince you that you can be passionate about any job and that it’s all in your attitude. To a point, there is value in that encouragement. What I’ve found, however, and as cliché as it sounds, is that the best job is something you’re truly passionate about. Something that when you spend eight hours a day “working,” it doesn’t feel like a job. Any job has its up’s and down’s, but the downs aren’t so down when you love what you do. We all know this, but we don’t all follow it. To prove it, look no further than the google search, “How often does one change careers?” 10 times. I’ll say this…you don’t love what you do if you have to change your career 10 times before you’re forced into retirement. 

Do we just not know what we want to do? Is it apathy? A terrible boss? Poor working conditions? Not enough pay? Have we not found our passion? Better yet, are we afraid to fail at the very thing we are passionate about? We all have our reasons, we all make our excuses, but sometimes after countless struggles…we find it. We go for it. We find that when you follow your passion, you don’t worry about the money. Money follows passion.

I found my passion in creating, communicating, and marketing. It’s what I’ve enjoyed all my life and what I’ve been called to do. I started STAK media as a vehicle for my own creative talents and for the creative talents of people like me. STAK exists to help passionate people communicate what they’re passionate about to the masses.

Life is too short to not love what you do, and fear is the killer of dreams. If you haven’t found your passion, don’t be afraid to pursue it. If you’ve found your passion and need help communicating that passion to someone else, then do not let the sun go down another day before you reach out to me to help you in your pursuit. 

In this world of bummer stories and depressing news, this is an opportunity for you all to share some of your uplifting stories of how you, or those you know, have pursued their passions and been rewarded for it. Send me an email or give me a call. I’d like to hear your story and then share it with others who may need some encouragement to pursue their own passion.

Check out my blog at https://STAK-media.com and submit your story about how you've overcome obstacles to pursue your own passions. We'd love hear from you and share your success stories to motivate others to pursue their own pursuits.