Why pursue passion?

Posted on June 06, 2017 by Steve Stuhlreyer, One of Thousands of Christian Coaches on Noomii.

Why pursue Passion?

In my last article, I wrote about “What is Passion? You know it when you got it”. In that article, I talked about how passion energy can change your life and give you some excitement in your life. It also gives you a drive an energy to pursue and find your life’s purpose. It is only then that you find the fulfillment that you have always been looking for.
In this article, I want to answer the question, “Why pursue Passion?” in the fast paced world in which we live and the busy schedule most of us have, why do I want to devote any more time to anything else? That is a legitimate question and I hope I can address it here in this article.

Here are some reasons to pursue finding your passion:

1) Fulfillment. It is my opinion that you and I are here on this planet for a specific purpose. In order to find and fulfill this purpose, we must have a specific skill set and a passionate drive to achieve our purpose. Once we are on the road of achieving our purpose, we find the excitement and energy we have always looked for and we begin to look forward to working hard towards achieving our purpose. Throughout my life, I have held various jobs from working at a movie theater and at Wendy’s to working in a grocery store. I eventually worked in a psychiatric hospital on a locked unit for adolescent boys. That was where I first began to get a taste of what it might be like to live my passion (although I did not have that language to describe it at that time at age 24). I loved going to work and working besides my fellow staff members and with these adolescents who most other people had regarded as trouble and needed to be set apart from the rest of society, at least for a little while. While these young men has some significant behavioral and mental health issues, I found myself drawn to them and had a strong desire to help them. I picked up extra shifts when I could even though I was already very busy being a full time graduate student as well as a graduate assistant working in the psychological services center on the university campus. I did get sidetracked off of my passion for a few years to become a teacher, a pastor, and then a director for a residential facility for adult men and women who lived with severe mental illness (all very noble and very worthwhile professions), but it wasn’t until I returned back to the role of helping people as a licensed mental health therapist and a coach that I found myself back on the track of pursuing my passion. I enjoyed my previous jobs and I learned a great deal from them, but when I started providing mental health and addictions counseling, my passion and energy increased exponentially. Now I am not only enjoying my job immensely, I am also having fun doing it and am constantly trying to learn more and more. I would even do it for free (but please don’t tell my boss )
2) Spillage. The second thing I find happens to people who pursue their passion and pursue it, is that there is what I call “spillage”. By this I mean that the excitement and energy that one finds in their passion spills over into other areas of their lives. Typically their family benefits from more and more energy and passion; their health improves because that person realizes that they need all their resources in order to stay on track for their passion. I also find that spillage effects the obstacles that come (and they will come) in that the passion energy will help you blow through the obstacles (see my last blog illustration regarding momentum and trains).
3) Opportunities are created. A third thing that happens is that typically other people will take notice of your passion and your developing expertise in the area of your passion. Others are also attracted by your energy level and will either want to come alongside you (because they have a similar passion) or they will invite you onto their team in their company. I also have seen many times in other people, and also in myself, that if the right business opportunity does not come along to help you pursue your passion, then you start your own business to allow you to pursue it. That has been the case for me and this has resulted in me starting two companies of my own – a non-profit named Hands of Hope and a mental health and addictions counseling private practice named Restoring Hope Counseling and Coaching. It has also led me to partner with a great friend of mine to begin developing a faith-based counselor center in our city. Opportunities are created when you have passion.
Passion is a GREAT thing. I would love to take a journey with you to help you find your passion. I look forward to hearing from you.

Steve