Here's the real truth behind The Passion Playbook and why I will never give up.
I'm conflicted. My problem is that I'm trying to create my own dream career and live my passionate life while telling you how to live yours.
So I'm making a declaration today that I will not try to tell you how to live your life. I'll just tell you what's working for me. (Honestly, this is what I've been doing all along, but I feel better making it clear to you :) I only ever share things that have personally worked for me.)
Here goes: I have seriously down days. At various points in my life I thought I must have bipolar disorder, PMDD (aka. severe PMS), SAD ( aka. severe winter blues) or depression. In my efforts to alleviate my moodiness, I tried all kinds of vitamins and meds, cleaned up my diet, became vegetarian and even escaped last winter by jetting off to Singapore. Some things worked, but nothing for very long.
Now I just face it, the ups and downs are part of the human condition. (Not to mention, starting a business makes highs higher and the lows lower.) The point of life though is to ride the waves, not to numb it all out.
I've seriously considered giving up on this whole Passion Playbook thing like 20 times since I got the idea 4 months ago. Yep, that's about once a week. But as often as I think of giving up, the thought never takes hold because there's something stronger here.
I can't and won't let go of this project. Even as it pains me to struggle with web design and code (all things technical that make me want to weep), it would kill me even more to relegate myself to getting a normal job and do nothing else but my normal job.
I've tasted the freedom and exhilaration that comes from building something that I wholeheartedly believe in and I can't go back. My hope is that you will find that experience of being alive and that The Passion Playbook will give you guideposts and inspiration to embark on your own great adventure.
See, I can only keep building The Passion Playbook as long as I'm living my passion. By doing so, I hope that you'll see it's possible to create a career doing what you love.
I teach what I live because I know there's truth to it. True success is more than what corporate recruiters chalk it up to be: healthcare plans, RRSPs, paid vacation time, fancy titles. I mean, those things are all great (and let's face it, I don't have any of that yet) but at what cost?
If you feel like you're selling your soul - your very breaths - in exchange for security, then something's not right. Either your job isn't working, or the way you THINK about your job isn't working.
While I'm starting figuring out this "career" part out, the part that I have successfully navigated is my college years. I managed to blossom from a people-pleaser overachiever (I joined tons of club, sports teams to stuff my high school resume) to a renegade who screwed security and embarked on purposeful adventures into the unknown.
I managed to travel, work, study and intern in over 20 countries during the last 3 years, all without ever doing one of those pay-$3000-to-help-poor-people programs. I did it my way and I grew into the person I wanted to be.
I've heard people say too many times that they hate their job and they feel dead inside, that I would be stupid to follow that career track. So I'm making my own.
I share with you the things that help me stay on the road less travelled because the road less travelled is the ONLY way to find resounding joy and inner peace.
Basically I'm saying, I don't have it ALL figured out but I am living the journey and sharing what works as I go. I keep creating and chronicling what it means to live a passionately, because I need my own advice to stay sane and excited for life. And maybe because these tips have helped me, they'll also help you.
Thanks for being amazing & sticking around. I promise you, it'll be a helluva ride. :)
P.S. We haven't talked in a while and I kinda miss your company. Leave me a message on the blog and let me know how you're doing!
Just Love,
Anita xx
