We are participating in the BootsnAll 30 Days of Indie Travel project. We will be posting once each day in response to a prompt given on the BootsnAll website. Leave your comments below and also check out their website for other bloggers joining in!
Day 17: It’s easy to be passionate about travel, but does that passion permeate the rest of your life? Do you live and work with passion? Why or why not?
Ever since Steve Jobs passed there has been a lot of recent stories about his commencement speech and past life experiences. He has inspired many and there is a lot for everyone to learn from how he lived his life. One quote taken from his speech at Stanford inspires me and reminds me how I want to live in both my personal and work life.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
In the past year I have made a lot of big decisions that have shifted my life dramatically from living what is expected of me and what I am passionate about, especially in my work. At the end of 2010 I left a great sales job in Chicago where I was working not only 9 – 5, but 7am – 7pm + weekends. Most of my work was done sitting behind a desk and talking on the phone with clients. None of the things I value such as time, travel, health, and new experiences and cultures were a part of that job. I switched careers and got certified as a personal trainer. In the past year I have been making my own schedule, freeing up time to travel, working with people to promote healthy lifestyles and strong bodies and networking with all walks of life. Although I still report to a certain hierarchy at the gym, I feel that my freedom has been restored and my mood rejuvenated.
At the end of this year I will be taking one more huge step in my life to follow my passion for travel and adventure around the world for 11 months. Passion is contagious and easy to get swept up in it to quickly which can lead to not the best of situations. Passion won’t pay the bills, so we have worked hard at beginning to build something to support us on the road. Passion won’t book the next hotel room or hostel, but we are trusting that with our research and fellow bloggers we will easily be able to get around. Passion wont protect us from mishaps in the world, but together we will be aware of our surroundings and accept the good and bad in each country for what it is (even the USA).
Passion is making us take the scary leap into the next 11 months of joblessness and homelessness, and the rest of the details are up to us. We are grateful to share a similar passion and are trusting our experience, preparation and friends we meet along the way will be there to also support our crazy passion!
What are you passionate about?
[…] at BootsnAll is to “work and play with passion” and while Traveling 9-5 points out that “passion doesn’t pay the bills,” it’s clear that pursuing a passion and being passionate about what you do is […]