When I wrote this post, it was my birthday. When I turned 26, and before, I was thinking about what I wanted to do for my career. During high school and middle school I really wanted to be a doctor; I wanted to be a neurosurgeon.
When I got to college I started to have doubts and I had the opportunity then to think about my career, but it was overwhelming to think about all the things that I wanted to do. I had friends who made the switch it but was just something that was challenging for me so I ignored it and kept pushing through. I went even so far to get like a master’s degree.
When I was writing like my why statement, an essay that says why do you want to become a physician, I still felt like I hadn’t convinced myself that there was an actual reason why I wanted to be a doctor. I had a mentor and she would say “think about how you can make this story a little bit more engaging” and I was having problems with that because I didn’t really know for myself deep down why I wanted to do this. I didn’t have the passion behind it.
Do something you’re passionate about.
If you’re doing something, do something that you’re passionate about. We should allow ourselves to explore our interests and allow ourselves to let that passion grow and develop over time because we’re changing. I’m not the same person I was when I was 13 years old when I decided to be a neurosurgeon. Now I’m 26, back then I was 19. My values were changing, my interests are changing.
My perspective changed in college.
I was exposed to more things especially going into like a bigger a university where I met different people from different places. There were a lot of subjects to study so I saw so much more of the world and I saw so much more of what other people were doing. It’s not necessarily I used it to compare and have grass is greener syndrome where I’m thinking “okay maybe they have it better” but it was more so that it sparked something inside of me and there were things that I was interested in.
How do you find your passion?
A lot of people ask how do you find that thing you’re passionate about and for me, right now, I’m going after that thing that makes me feel good inside. Some things even almost have a nostalgic feel to them. You might be doing something and it resonates deeply within you and to me that’s the thing that I personally would go after. I go after those things and I try to not let my fear get involved when deciding because it could be scary. There’s traditional career paths and what if your interest is not necessarily something that your parents or grandparents did or people around you are doing. Go after that thing that you really feel passionate about.
Changing my mind
Back to my medical school story so I kind of realized while I was applying for medical school that I really didn’t necessarily want to become a doctor anymore and so it was challenging but I got through it. I’ve always been interested in business and I don’t think I really realized how interested I actually was. I would say statements like “I really want to do art dealing” which is basically selling art and for some reason it feels like content creation is still calling me back. I’m afraid because I love structure and I’m scared that like I stop school that structure is going to go away.
We grow in discomfort.
his season of my life I really want to embrace the discomfort even though I don’t know if I’m scared of failure or I’m scared of losing that structure.
We have to chart paths for ourselves.
I may not do a traditional path I might not do the same path as my parents or my grandparents or people around me but something about it feels so good that I’m willing to chase after this dream and it feels just right. I want to encourage you to chase after that thing that feels right to you.
I saw a post on Instagram that was saying if you’re in something whether it’s a relationship or even a career or if you’re doing something and you just feel drained or you feel down or you feel like it’s not satisfying you then that thing is not that the thing for you, it’s not your passion, it’s not that thing that’s going to invigorate you.
You have that vision in your mind. You might one day want to open a salon or something like that you have the vision it just doesn’t go away after maybe three years, ten years it’s still tugging at you find some way to incorporate it into your life. You mightn’t have to quit your job or quit school or anything right away but you can start doing the thing you love little by little, meeting people in the area just talking to them building connections or finding out what you need to do to take that step in the right direction.
Don’t wait till things are perfect to start.
Sometimes you have to take that leap. If you want to be a content creator you mightn’t even have the best camera. You set up whatever you have and you use what you have and you go, you do that thing that you know you’re supposed to do that thing that makes you feel good and I can guarantee you at least you’re going to feel good about it and you’re going to see the results of your effort your hard work. Then eventually you can get a new camera, but you don’t have to wait to get that new camera that new lighting or that new mic. You don’t have to wait for those perfect moments to start the thing that you want to do and yes money might be a thing but like I said start with what you have. Start small and then gradually as you grow you’ll be able to afford the nicer camera or the nicer makeup.
Start somewhere and push yourself to take the step because when we don’t push ourselves to take the step and we’re waiting for those perfect moments what happens is we’re delaying the future, we’re delaying our dreams and then that in itself is what makes it even scarier. We’re building the tension for ourselves when all we need to do is just take that first step.
Once you take that first step you might be crawling and then eventually you start walking and then you start running. You’re building experience, you’re building skills as you start, you’re making connections as you start and then eventually you’re running, you’re soaring and you didn’t even realize “hey five years has passed and I just feel like my thing is like I could have never imagined.” I want us to get into this mindset.
“I could have never imagined” moments.
We might be scared of failure but we are looking for those I could have never imagined moments. We’re looking for those moments where we look back on our lives and we’re like yes I’m glad I did that thing I wanted to do, I’m glad I went after that, I’m glad that I didn’t let people talk me out of the thing I was interested in or the things I wanted to do because look at where I’m at now and I feel so happy and so satisfied with the life that I created for myself. That’s what’s important at the end of your life.
Don’t worry about what people think of you.
You don’t want to get to a point where you feel regretful because you were worried about what somebody from all the way back in High School thought of you or somebody from college thought of you or what your cousin thought of you. You shouldn’t let the opinions of others stop you from doing the thing you want to do because people give us advice based on what they know and they try their best to give us advice or they might give us advice on things that they’re scared or stories that they heard but it doesn’t mean that that has to be your story. You can do the things that you need to do. You can get to the places you just need to believe in yourself.
You need to have that validation within yourself. You don’t need everybody to tell you hey this is a great idea, hey go after this. Yes, you can seek mentorship, you can seek advice but always do the thing that is best for you. Don’t go say this person told me that maybe I shouldn’t do this. If you have done your research and you’ve done your due diligence, don’t worry about what other people think of you.
If you want to start a business and you did your due diligence and you did the research for yourself, you’re doing your market research, you know who your audience is and the product you want to develop is perfect for the space you’re in, go after that thing and don’t let thinking about all these extra things and what are people going think of you stop you.
I did social media marketing and I’ve worked with business owners and a lot of business owners have told me that the time when they started making a bunch of money was when they started to believe in themselves. Even the small belief in yourself you is important to accomplish your goals. Your have to believe in yourself and your product, no matter how small it may be at the moment. Take big steps.
Have confidence.
If you wanted to go and ask for funds or to expand your business or you sell your product at the local store, you have to go pitch and sell your product. To do so, you have to be confident in you’re product. You have to be confident in your research and in yourself, what you believe, and what you stand for.
The importance of self-care in business.
Find ways to express yourself. Find ways to let yourself be vulnerable. If you have to cry have cry session or call up your best friend or whatever the case might be do that thing. To be successful especially in a career where you are the business especially when you’re a smaller and it’s only you, you have to take that time to take care of yourself.
You might not be feeling well but take time to take care of yourself and I can guarantee you that once you start putting self-care first, making that your priority, even while you’re building your business, you’re going to see how much good of an effect that’s going to have on your business.
Summary.
I know this was a lot of information, but some key takeaways from this post are:
- Do something you’re passionate about
- Your passion/interests change over time
- We grow in discomfort
- To be successful, we have to chart paths for ourselves
- Don’t wait till things are perfect to start
- We’ve going after those “I could have never imagined” moments
- Don’t worry about what people think of you
- Prioritize your self and your care
If this post was helpful, please let me know in the comments and leave a reaction. On my YouTube channel, I post videos about self-development, self-care, growth, and reaching your full potential. Follow me on YouTube for more content.
Stay safe and until next time.
Mahaly Baptiste 
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