Your Job Doesn't Have to Be Your Passion.

by Kelsey Alpaio, Senior Associate Editor

Where do you see yourself in five years? 

I used to love it when a professor, family member, or interviewer asked me this question. I knew exactly who I wanted to be, where I wanted to work, and what I would be doing exactly 1,826 days from that moment. I had a dream job to get, a career to pursue, and a passion to follow. 

Now, not so much. Nothing is quite as certain as I thought it once was. Everything feels challenging, even the things I love doing. In short, it’s a lot harder to picture where I want to be in five years in a world where I can’t even picture next week. 

But it’s not all bad. Part of the reason I lack clarity is that I’m currently in the future I once pictured for myself. I’m in a job I love, doing the things I’m passionate about, in a city that feels like home. I know I’m one of the lucky ones, and now that I’m here, it’s hard to figure out what I want next. 

Up until this point in my life, all of my aspirations have been work-related. The passions I discovered as a child, the subjects I studied hard at school, and the extracurriculars I participated in at college were all in service of helping me get a good job. Knowing myself, I will continue bringing that drive and passion into my work. But I’m also really excited to try exploring a future that isn’t solely governed by the labor I one day “dream” of doing. 

I’m excited to pursue passions outside of work. I’m eager to discover new things that challenge and inspire me. And I’m interested in the possibility of throwing away the idea of passion altogether and replacing it with curiosity and purpose instead. 

I have no idea what my life will look like in five years, and for the first time, I find comfort in that.

This week. I want to recommend the following article: Your Job Doesn’t Have to Be Your Passion by Lauren C. Howe, Jon M. Jachimowicz, and Jochen I. Menges.

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