by Angelica Weathersby

Created on: March 04, 2008

Finding your true passion early in life is not necessarily a boon: It can lead you into awkward situations and make you miserable if you are not mature enough to follow wisely. I speak from experience. My passion for justice was my childhood companion even in my earliest memories, and because justice requires battles in its defense, it was always in conflict with my love of peace and serenity. As you can imagine, this made for, as my grandmother used to say, "A tough row to hoe." This farm-country metaphor was apt. There I was at the age of four or five, seeing ahead of me the weeds of injustice all the way to the horizon, and thinking that I, with my little child's hoe, must chop them out all by myself.

This is not to say that I would rather have been born without that passion. I can understand the feeling of some people who do not have such clearly defined passions, and feel that they have been left out. In many cases, it is the passion that finds the person, rather than the other way around. There are several things you can do to encourage this to happen in your life:

1. Ask yourself whether there is anything in life, in society, etc., that makes you so angry that you can hardly contain yourself when the subject comes up. Although you probably don't want to get into an activity that is fueled by anger and keeps you constantly upset, you may find value in doing something ABOUT whatever inspires outrage in you. This is the kind of thing that should guide you in doing any volunteer work. It can lead to a whole new career for which you have a natural passion.

2. Make a list of everything you do with your time. Put each item under a heading designating whether it's something you enjoy or something you are obliged to do. (For most people, some things will fit into both categories.)

3. Look over your list and see if there is anything on it that you would do, whether or not you were obliged to do it. Focus especially on anything that makes you feel that when you do it, you are being your "real" self. Be receptive to these things wherever they turn up. I have a friend who went to college for the purpose of increasing her opportunities for lucrative employment. What she discovered was that the world of academia was the only place she had ever been, in which she felt that she truly belonged. She said it was like going home to a place she only dimly remembered, but had been yearning for all her life. She loved it-Passionately! She could not afford to become a "professional

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