If your everyday routine feels a bit too monotonous, try something new. It’s important to find something, indeed, many things, to be passionate about and it can be an effective way of adding a new dimension to your life.
The old guidance counselors’ exercise used to determine one’s profession is a good place to start; if you had enough money saved to not work, what would you do with yourself? If your answer is “watching baseball all day,” then you should be a baseball writer. This exercise is clever, but the crux of the issue is to determine the answer to the middle part of the question. Tim Ferris, author of the Four Hour Workweek, recommends outsourcing the chores and tasks that get in the way of doing the things you really want/need to do. If you do this and are left with more free time to engage in activities or pursuits that would give you joy, what would those things be?
The answer could be broad, like “I would take more time to read,” but what would you read about? Revisit a book you read in school; chances are reading, say, Dickens at this point in your life would be a different experience than when you were in high school. You may discover (or rediscover) a passion for reading.
Try becoming well-versed in a subject that you have no prior knowledge of. You could become an expert on environmentalism (hello, is this BP? I have some choice words…) Love music? Delve into a new genre of music you’ve never tried to enjoy before or become an aficionado of music history.
Free time rules! Learn to cook a gourmet meal, take voice lessons to sing in the shower better, take painting classes to capture that view out of your window, take up cycling; it doesn’t matter what hobbies you have or decide to pursue; what’s important is to have them at all. You will find happiness if you discover new endeavors to drive you.
