Finding Your Passion Later in Life

As we get older and life has taken a few twists and turns we often find ourselves past the stage of striving for materialistic possessions. We are searching for something more meaningful. We want to feel passionate about something. It’s been said that if we don’t know what our passion is and want to find it that we need to find out what most interested us between the ages of around 7 to 10 years of age. That what interested at that age will often be our real passion. I have to admit that with a number of people I know this appears to be quite true. With my own grown children I recall interests that they had at a young age and see that certain ones have remained and developed and others are forgotten. My one daughter has always loved animals. She had her first pony when she was 12 years of age. She didn’t just ride them she loved to take care of them, just as she did all other animals large and small. She is still into caring about sick animals in her adult life. She has taken in rescue dogs a number of times and always seems to find birds and animals that need help or maybe they find her...I'm not sure which. When my son was young he loved helicopters, he had a number of model and remote helicopters. A couple of years ago for his birthday I gave him a double picture frame with two pictures in. One side was a picture my son when he was about 10 years old sitting in a helicopter at an air show back in the UK, and in the other side of the frame was a picture that I had taken of him a couple of weeks before his birthday standing by his own helicopter. He pursued his passion and over the years worked hard to earn his pilots license and then getting his own helicopter. A cousin of mine loved fountains, when we were kids we would go to the parks in our neighbourhood back in the UK to see the water fountains. Most parks had beautiful flower gardens and fountains. The fountain sculptures were very old and ornate. She still goes to look at waterfalls but now it’s in places like Rome and other parts of Europe, not only that she has her own collection of water fountains for the home and garden. Fountains have always been a genuine interest for her and they have brought her a lot of pleasure over the years. For some people its art, stamps or coins and others its fountains. Those fortunate to have found and followed their true passion at a young age usually become experts and sometimes become very successful using that passion. A great example is Tiger Woods, whatever else anyone may think about him, as a golfer he is the best. Golf is his passion, it’s something he loved when he was very young and continued to pursue into adulthood. Golfing to him now seems to come so effortlessly and natural. Most of us have not had that same passion and commitment for the game but we can still play and enjoy a game of golf once we know how. It’s a skill that we can learn at any age. We may decide to get a bit of help from a pro to learn the proper golf swing or by using a training club like the medicus dual before we can play a decent game. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever be in the Tiger Woods category but we can still play the game and have fun. There are actors, singers and sports celebrities that started out when they were very young and have continued to pursue their passion. With having the winter Olympics here in Vancouver recently there were a number of inspiring example of young people that have followed their passion to become experts and Olympians in sports that they love with many of them winning medals for their country. If you discover your passion again later in life you should pursue it. Even though you may never become famous you can still become great and more than that you can find satisfaction and fulfillment in what you do. Think about it what it was that interested you as a child, if you can’t remember maybe you can check with your parents or siblings. Did you want to become a musician or an artist? Maybe you were great at drawing but now would like to learn oil painting or other painting techniques? Did you like to play teacher and would love to teach others to do something that you are already good at, what about cooking, or writing? Some kids have a wonderful imagination and are great at making up and telling stories some go on to write books. So go ahead, find and pursue your passion.