Where is your passion?

I have a friend who is so fed up by her job and her boss, she is more than willing to quit. But when I encouraged her to quit, there came a question to her, what can she do after quitting her job? So I asked her, what is your passion. She answered, I don't know.

She is not a newly graduate, nor an under educated person. She is a very intelligent Malaysian girl, well educated with a master degree in a top university in Australia, currently is with around 5 years working experience across the world. But when it came to something relevant to passion, it's like a mission impossible to her.

She is not like a boring girl who only has a job and soup operas. She doesn't watch Korean/ American soap operas at all, she regularly does exercises, she plays violin and piano, she is learning French by herself, she reads, sometimes she enjoys a late night out too. But none of those was her passion. 

I have another friend who holds a doctor degree in neuroscience, a certificate of general practitioner, a certificate of chartered accountant, will get one for statistician soon this year. He has 3-4 papers on global leading medical magazines. He is now working on a project to get young women in China to get more aware of the prevention methodology of breast cancer. After the last couple of months intensive preparation for his latest dissertation, he felt empty. Different from my Malaysian friend, he likes what he is doing now, but that is still just a job, now his passion.

When I say passion, it doesn't necessarily mean a glorious project like the most popular role model all over the world Steve Jobs did-- Apple. It can be anything you are passionate for. If you have you passion upon a guy or a lady, it is still your passion. You can find your motivation on it, and you spontaneously and voluntarily do whatever to get to your goal on it.

I watched a documentary movie called "Bill Cunningham New York" about the first guy who started street snapping and how he worked. He is still working even when he was 80 when the movie was shot, he didn't own a lot of things or get loaded from his work, but he is obsessed to what he is doing and he is always happy and passionate about it. Of course automatically he became an expert of fashion. He has a different view of fashion and beauty. He makes the fashion world more inclusive in my opinion.

I am not an expert on how to find where your passion locates, but below are some ways people suggested by their behavior:

1. Travelling. When I traveled in South East Asia, I met a lot of young people most from Europe, some from America. They came for adventure and trying to find what they want in life--at least periodically. There are different ways for them to explore life, such as experience the nature, local culture, talk and get inspired by people from all over the world; as well as partying hard, sleeping around, trying new drugs and crazy things they never did before.

2. Talking. Talking with different people can always help you find out what kind of a person you are, for sure it can help you find your passion out as well. Different people means both people who are very different from you and different people who are like-minded with you. 

3. Reading. Yes, reading. When you read you can get to another world regardless of time location or people.You can experience different people's lives see things from different perspectives which is essential to our passion seeking.

4. Extreme Sports, or if not Marathon is another choice. Challenging ourselves sometimes can find us the limits or maybe sometimes finds us no limits. actually even when you jog, you can find something you don't know about yourself.

5. How can I forget to say Do volunteer jobs! This is one of the best way for you to give, and most of the time, you get more than you expected.

6. To be continued. I believe people has different ways to find our where their passion lies, just keep your minds and don't give up you'll find it.

I also believe that our passion always changes. I know where my passion is doesn't mean I will need to stick with it for a life time. I can also have several passions. 

Those are only the things my 2 friends inspired me to think about passion, without any scientific evidence or sociological proof. Please take it as a proposition composition thanks.

I made this shitty picture as the background, don't criticize me please.