As we start off 2019, I’m looking at ways to rediscover passion and get back to living life for myself.
Sometimes, you need to just be brutally honest with yourself.
And as the dust settles on 2018, it was hard for me to enter a New Year without doing a little “self-reflection” on just the what the heck I did with my time over the last twelve months. No doubt, great things happened. But there were also those things that did not.
If anything, I feel like 2018 was the year I lost my passion.
On New Year’s Eve, I was left with a bit of a lump in my throat. And it wasn’t a lump of sadness. Worse? It was a lump of guilt. I was proud of all the things I did to lift up others in 2018, but very disappointed in just how little I did to lift up myself. And let’s face it: no one’s signing up to be my personal cheerleader so it’s time to pick up the pompoms and start doing it all on my own.
Without question, I worked harder than I ever have in 2018. I spent my time working into the night, giving up my weekends and even holidays. But basically all my efforts were lumped into the “for greater good” pile – leaving me with not much to be proud of in terms of personal accomplishments.
That’s a mistake I’m determined not to make again.
Making A Promise to Myself
It’s all good and dandy working your tail off to help everyone else – but when you’re left with little to show from it for yourself ? That’s an eye-opening pill to swallow. With that in mind, I told myself I won’t be making a New Year’s resolution. Instead? I’m making a promise and invite you to make the same promise to yourself. 2019 will be the year I get back to following my passions!
You know the saying “go where you feel most alive?”
I’m adopting that as my mission statement – both physically and internally. Life is truly far too short to exist simply by going through the motions. Once you find something you love, don’t you think you’d be kind of foolish not to follow it?
So whatever your passion is, I welcome you to join me in following it in 2019. Be it art, cooking, a profession, travel…whatever sets your heart on fire is where I want you to live for the next twelve months. Imagine what could happen! My guess? We’ll be sitting in a much happier place on December 31.
Ready to Rediscover Passion
How did I spend my New Year’s Day?
Upgrading my video editing software and losing myself in creating a project simply for the fun of it. I spent a good chunk of August 2018 researching and buying the best computer for video editing – only to let the last months of the year go by doing nada. Revisiting this passion I let fall on the back-burner was the perfect way to kick-start the year. It was also the perfect way to ignite a flame of inspiration I’m determined to keep alive this year. (Look for more video-type content to hit my social media!)
Of course, we all know it can be tricky to stay motivated. Feeling curious, I did lil’ search of my own writing here on Dream in Lace to see what I had to say on the subject. What I found was this 2016 post on How to Stay Motivated.
Reading it back, I found there was a lot of truth to what my younger self had to say. Life has its ups and downs same as motivation…what counts? Not giving up. That post includes five great ideas to help get you back on track when you feel your motivation start to wane a bit. If you have any more ideas, I’d definitely love to hear those as well!
My Plan to Rediscover Passion in 2019
After making a promise to myself that 2019 will be the year I rediscover passion, I did jot down a “game plan” of sorts on just how I plan to keep that passion alive. I’m a work in progress, same as everyone else, but I’m really excited to make this year one that I can feel proud of!
Listed below are a few things I plan to do to keep my promise to myself in the New Year. If you have any tips on how to rediscover passion and find joy, please share!
- A Schedule: Physically scheduling time for my passion projects and not letting myself cancel them. They’re appointment set in stone!
- Creating for Fun: Not everything has to be a work assignment. It’s a lot more fun (and less stressful) when you explore your interests just for the heck of it. If you’re a photographer, take pictures for yourself. If you’re a cook at a restaurant, invent your own recipes at home. The list goes on!
- Listen to Podcasts in My Niche: In 2018 I listened to a handful of podcasts that I found inspiring, but wasn’t really consistent about it. But when I do take the time to listen, I find myself walking away feeling more and more inspired. Luckily, there are countless podcasts out there on every subject under the sun. So, no matter what your passion is…I guarantee there’s one out there for you. (Stay tuned, because I’ll be sharing my favorites in a future post!)
- Listen to More Music: Also something I love but don’t do enough of? Listening to music. There’s truly something powerful about music…almost like it speaks directly to your soul. Definitely going to take better advantage of my LARGE music library in 2019 because what could be more passionate than music?
- Cook Without Recipes: Sure following a recipe is fine, but the most fun I have in the kitchen is when I go to the store…find ingredients that look the best that day and concoct something all on my very own.
- Limit Watching the News: Note this says *watching* not reading. I’ll continue to read The Washington Post, BBC, etc. but won’t waste my time watching pundits endlessly drone one about it. Seems like a waste, really. Instead I’ll use that time to work on things that make me happy.
- Work Less, Have More Fun: Last but not least! I think a great way to rediscover passion is by having fun! Not to say I was a total party pooper in 2018…but I definitely skipped out on A LOT of fun opportunities. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be come a ‘yes’ girl and say RSVP yes to every invite that comes my way!
Today’s calendar reads January 2, 2019. At the end of the year, I’ll definitely be looking back on this post and my hope is to feel good about keeping a promise to myself. I’m sure the year ahead will have its downs, but I’m really determined to get back to following my passions.
What are you looking to do in 2019?
I hope this post inspired you to think on what sets your heart on fire and I sincerely hope you do more of whatever THAT is in the New Year. Let’s do it!
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XOXO
Kelly
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