“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.”
– Howard Thurman
Life-Transformative Moment
Immersed in rural China’s simple lifestyle, my family and I met our basic survival needs with our own rice fields, vegetable garden, and farm animals. Ignorant of the world’s technological advancements, we were content and satisfied with what we had.
However, that unconsciousness was inevitably dismantled by the luxuries owned by our neighbors’ rich friends and those seen on television shows and movies. Through osmosis, our desire for extravagance became more prevalent.
As my parents quickly realized, the path to obtaining lavishment was through college education and earning more money.
In contrast to today, attending college during my parents’ generation was the exception rather than the norm. Those selected few with a college degree went on to have highly paid jobs and lived an extremely comfortable life.
Therefore, my parents emphasized the huge importance of formal education for my brother and me. That’s because our success would be seen as their success. In addition, it was their way of displaying high social status.
Having that belief, I’ve always experienced pressure to thrive in school in an effort to have a bright future. My parents’ invisible drive for me contributed to my perseverance and academic success.
After graduating from college, I strengthened this belief by dedicating most of my time to work. Because without my job, there would be no money. As a result of primarily focusing on my career, I started experiencing deterioration in other areas of my life. And my health was the first to go.
Whether it’s working on weekends, skipping numerous lunches to meet a project’s deadlines, or traveling for work, they all contributed to my decline in physical and mental wellness.
In a short span of one year, I had gained twenty pounds of fat and often times felt lethargic. What simultaneously suffered were my relationships and personal growth.
My social life was boring because of the mundane activities of getting drunk with the same friends every weekend. In addition, my dating life was nonexistent because I didn’t take the time to meet women since I imprisoned myself at work.
As for investing in my personal growth, I didn’t have time for hobbies such as hiking, reading, or challenging myself in new engagements.
My life was rapidly torpedoing down into a pile of manure.
However, my life-transformative moment came when I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Vividly, I remember staring at myself in the bathroom mirror with disgust and asking myself the following questions.
- “Who have I become?”
- “How did I let myself get to this point?”
- “What am I going to do to fix this?”
That’s when I decided, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”
My health and my life aren’t worth the money I’m making. I’m not willing to compromise it for the sake of chasing monetary gains anymore. No amount of money in the world can replace my well-being. My riches are worthless if I don’t have a healthy body and mind to enjoy them.
Slowly taking the necessary steps to improve my health, I regained my sense of confidence and love for living again. After losing all the fat I gained within six months, I became fascinated with taking care of myself. And the more I improved my fitness, the more I wanted to learn about health – physical, mental, and spiritual.
My health struggles catalyzed my transformation and eventually became my passion. Over time, I cultivated more drive as I actively dedicated time to learning and improving my body and mind.
Because of the pain from my health challenges, I felt the need to help others who are dealing with their unique wellness agony. That’s because I want them to get out of suffering and feel their most energetic and confident selves.
By improving my health, I discovered the desire to enhance other areas of my life. This included my professional life, relationships, and personal growth. After delving deeper into those areas, I also felt the urge to help others who want to enhance their overall life.
This holistic approach is the key to living a well-balanced life. Hence, this is where my current passion resides. When diving into topics of integrated life improvement, I feel most alive and connected to my core.
Discover and Cultivate Your Passion
Deep beneath your core, you have something that lights a fire in your belly. It’s your passion you have cultivated over time. Ask yourself:
- “What makes me excited?”
- “What do I love doing?”
- “How can I develop passion from a past traumatic event and use it to help others?”
If you haven’t discovered it yet, make it your highest priority to keep looking. Start by trying new activities you never thought you would attempt. In addition, also revisit old hobbies you once loved doing.
You can also spend alone time in nature. Your solitude in the wilderness can erupt deep thoughts within you. This type of self-analysis and introspective work is necessary for discovering your passions. This is especially important if you’re an introvert – one who needs personal time to recharge your capacity to deal with others.
Another practical thing you can do is to dig deep into your past. There are scarring events that have shaped you into who you are today. Use that drive to start building momentum towards a fiery passion. In your life of rich tales, you have many untold stories that contain physical and emotional pain.
- How can you tap into those important moments and transform yourself so you don’t have to experience those struggles again?
- What skills can you learn to develop to end others’ suffering by shortening their learning curve?
Unleash Your Full Livelihood
Having a passionate drive is necessary. Without it, you’re blindly surviving by following the crowd rather than living with a strong purpose.
Instead of being easily persuaded by the masses, you’re grounded in your own beliefs and values. By not yielding to everyone’s request, you only do what’s important to you.
In your interactions, you will exude energy and confidence in your conversations because of your intense conviction toward your beliefs. Deeply caring for something, you perform higher quality work than before. Others who resonate with your passion will gravitate toward you.
More contentment and satisfaction are the benefits of living with more zest. And you’ll have more fulfillment and meaning because of your contribution to a meaningful cause.
During challenging times, your strong ethos and belief system are your greatest allies. They will help you overcome difficult struggles. In return, you experience growth.
Closing Thoughts
A man without passion is a man who’s not alive. If you don’t care about something, you don’t stand for anything.
Lacking a backbone, you’re easily stepped on and convinced to adopt different ideas. This isn’t the quality of a strong, mature, and masculine man.
To live with passion means having the willingness to suffer for the things that are important to you. Instead of doing what’s easy, you go for what’s difficult, even if you don’t know what the outcome might be.
You face uncertainty and trust in yourself and the process that everything will be fine in the end. And if everything’s not okay, then there’s more to do.
You learn to tap into your excitements and let them ignite you. Your masculinity and livelihood depend on them.
Start living with more vigor and energy. After doing that, you’ll wonder why you haven’t started earlier.
I am on a mission to help 1,000,000 people, but I can’t do that without your help. Please share this article with anyone who you may think will find it valuable and helpful.
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