3 Excuses Why You’re Not Chasing Your Passions

I wrote in one of my other blogs “Go to School If You Want to be a Fool” the reasons that the educational system along with societal normalities has failed us.

I believe this because how I came to become a content creator and photographer from Perth was no result from what school or society taught me.

From a young age, we get given two choices, we are expected to choose between going to university to study further or get a trade that will mould us into the robots that we’re expected to be.

At that young age we don’t know any better, we’re extremely vulnerable to the seductive power of social proof influence.

When we are uncertain about something, we are most likely to analyse what others say and do in our internal and external environments to decide what we ourselves should do or behave.

This influence also has power over us when we analyse the behaviour of people like ourselves, it’s what we believe is the right behaviour so we can fit in.

Simply, monkey see, monkey do.

The problem is that we are bred into a routine that destines us for failure, we become brainwashed to follow a broken system on how we should live our lives which, inevitably leads us to live very unfulfilling lives.

You follow the system, the rules because you believe you have to, not because you want to.

It’s a trick, it’s all one big life trick and the jokes on us.

I say this because I, like you fell for the trick, which I share more about in “The Story of my Life”.

I lived a very depressing and unfulfilling life for a very long time.

I worked in a job that killed my passions, as time passed, I slowly but surely stopped doing the things I loved which slowly but surely stopped me from loving myself as a result.

I hated my life, I felt very dissatisfied with what I was doing and where I was going.

There had to me more, I questioned everything to try figure out how I could make a change to chase the things I was truly passionate about and live more fulfilled.

If you feel like it’s too late to start again from the ground up, that your life is already written and you don’t have any other choice but to keep wearing a fake smile to hide your unhappiness, you’re wrong.

I had to critique all the excuses that I believed stopped me from chasing my passions and reverse engineer from there to overcome these excuses so I could start living a more passionate, happy and fulfilling life and you have to as well.

Here are 3 things that are stopping you from chasing your passions.

Stuck In The Middle

Change is Uncomfortable

I found that as I got older, the more comfortable I became, losing my motivation to change.

I got trapped in the mindset (among others) of “Well, this is it, this is my job, this is what I have to do until the day I die”.

Sound familiar?

There will always be an excuse to not do what you love to do because change is uncomfortable, but, you will always find an excuse every time, without a doubt, without fail.

You have to ignore the excuse to become uncomfortable, to stay comfortable no matter how loud it screams, no matter hard it bashes, don’t you dare look at it, don’t acknowledge it’s petty existence, focus on what’s beyond the excuse.

Comfort is the poison for happiness.

If it scares you and makes you uncomfortable it means you’re heading in the right direction, don’t look back, never look back, focus on going forward, keep moving forward one step at a time.

It doesn’t matter if it will work out or not, it really doesn’t because wouldn’t you rather know than be stuck living a life that you question “what if?” with every breath you take?

The uncomforting feeling you experience through change is your friend, it provides you with the strength for continued self- development and growth, don’t fight it, don’t run away from it, welcome it, embrace it.

Instead of living a life you no longer believe is right or a life that no longer makes you happy, doesn’t it make sense to at least try change it? You owe it to yourself to do what you’re passionate about, you deserve to be happy.

Are you alive? Are you breathing? Can you walk? If you’re unhappy, then move!

My Passion Doesn’t Pay me to Live

A disgusting habit that gets imbedded deep into our minds is the false belief that we won’t be able to make a living from our passions.

What makes things worse is that as the older we get we trap ourselves with more and more income draining responsibilities that hinders our hopes, you know what I’m talking about, a mortgage, rent, personal loans, credit cards, bills….

I guess you could say “that’s just life” a natural and normal progression.

But these income draining responsibilities are the god forsaken birthplace of yet another excuse to why we cannot chase our passions.

I’ll be honest, maybe just quitting your job to chase your passion of writing, photography, vlogging or magic as a beginner isn’t the greatest of ideas because yes, you have responsibilities and a mouth to feed.

It can be hard to chase your passions while having your soul drained from the 9-5 grind. But there are 24 useful hours in every day and there are even more ways to do what you love while simultaneously working your current job.

So you don’t have any excuse.

It’s not a question of how much you really want it, because let’s be honest, we all have this fantasy swirling around in our heads of who we are meant to be and what we are meant to do.

But for most, a fantasy remains a fantasy. If you want to chase your passion and make a living from it then you have to be willing to work hard for it.

You’re Scared of What People Will Think

As human beings, doing what those in our community do, doing what the people we admire do, look up to do is the glue that keeps our society together.

Going against that would mean being rejected from the community we feel so safe and secure in, it would lead to certain death.

So, no wonder we are scared of what other people will say and think.

For a lot of us, the tormenting fear of being different, being special and of what other people think of us keeps us trapped in a homemade excuse prison.

We welcome ourselves in, throw away the key and never leave.

By locking ourselves within the unforgiving walls of this excuse prison, it stops us from reaching our full potential and enjoying our lives to the fullest.

If you allow yourself to continue to be locked away in this excuse prison and not show the world who you really are, you’ll limit your creative potential, be blind to the people who can enhance your life, miss opportunities and fail to live your true purpose.

To escape, you have to realise that the others who inhabit your community don’t understand you and that they never, ever will.

They won’t understand you no matter how hard you try. Even if you tell them that you’re hurting, you’re in pain, you’re not happy and that your mental health is suffering.

“Wait, Mental health?” “You’ll get over it.”

If you’re scared, that’s perfectly fine, if you’re worried about rejection, expect it. Be you anyway. It’s okay to put yourself first, It’s ok to be selfish, you have to be.

Know what you want, discover your passions, become passionately focused and put all your energy into them.

This is The End

The excuses you keep telling yourself force you to live a very dissatisfying life.

You become an unauthentic version of yourself, you’re not staying true to who you want to be, you fall apart from yourself.

Who are you? Who really are you?

The price of authenticity and happiness within yourself is that you won’t find comfortability anywhere, no matter how hard you look for it.

You will only find comfort in being uncomfortable.

But it’s worth the risk because it’s only when you have the strength, willpower and courage to stop with the excuses and be absolutely unapologetic in being YOU and only YOU will find your passions.