When I quit both my job and home to travel the world, I felt so incredibly free and optimistic.

The world was my oyster. I felt like I had finally escaped the box I had trapped myself into all my life, and now I had the opportunity to reinvent myself completely.

I had no idea what I got myself into.

I quit my job because I wanted to find my purpose and live to my full potential.

I was determined to discover my calling and dedicate my life to it.

Problem is... what do you do when you have too many passions and interests? And have no idea where to start?

When you know you're talented and have the potential to not only achieve anything, but also get reeaally good at it, the paradox of choice hits hard.

You get overwhelmed by possibilities and a really, really heavy feeling of being "behind".

What I learned is that there's not a million solutions to feeling like this. In fact, there's only one: you need to figure out what you really want first.

I wouldn't have believed myself a few years ago, but now I understand it. If you feel lost and still don't know what you want in life; you haven't tried enough things.

What does that mean and how does one do that?

Follow any spark, joy and interest that crosses your mind long enough to make you wonder "what if". And don't half-ass it. Go all in.

And whenever that "thing" starts feeling like a chore, or you loose interest, or you feel like showing up consistently is hard (aka when you show up because you should rather than because you want to), drop it.

You read it right: drop it.

And that, my friend, is how you discover your true passion, calling, direction, call it whatever you want.

First, you're going to realize that not every passion is worth pursuing for a living.

Some passions will die before you even get good at it — that's when you try and realize the idea of doing the thing was way more fun than actually doing the thing.

Some passions will remain hobbies. Mostly because you
A. won't be interested in training consistently enough to get great at it. Or,
B. you won't want to do it for money because it would loose its magic.

Then, after you've tried and dropped enough things, you will know what's actually worth pursuing.

And not just because you will find something that really lights you up.

Because something else will happen. First, you will most likely never stop having new interests that give you a boost of dopamine. Especially if you have a spicy and creative brain like mine.

But you'll have experienced enough start-and-stops, hard work and disappointments that every time something new will come up, you'll pause and ask yourself: do I really want this?

In other words: is it really worth investing all the time and effort I KNOW is required to actually succeed at this?

And then you'll start saying no to more things.

Because the ONE thing you found worth pursuing will become so important that you won't be willing to give that up just to chase the new shiny thing.

So when you're confused about which direction to take next, it might not be the best time to make a decision. It might be a time for trying new things. Exploring the playground. Say yes to more things without being too attached to what will come out of it.

Give yourself space to figure out if you actually enjoy it, and really want it.

For me the journey went like this:

I quit my job as a physiotherapist knowing I would always have the degree and knowing could always come back to it if I wanted to. Eventually I realized I never wanted to go back. So I gave up my licence.

I had this itch to get out of my city and live somewhere else, so I sold everything and left. Eventually I got sick of being on the road all the time and was craving a stable home, so I came back.

I loved the idea of location freedom and making money from anywhere while traveling the world. Eventually I realized I didn't want the lifestyle of a digital nomad, so I stopped pursuing this goal.

I had this idea that I wanted to start a blog, so I did. Eventually I realized how much work it took and that I wasn't willing to dedicate myself to it anymore, so I dropped it.

I was dreaming of this beach lifestyle, surfing all day and living with consistently tan skin and toes in the sand, so I went to beautiful places like Hawaii and Mexico. Eventually I realized that surfing was more like a hobby than a passion and that this life felt boring to me.

I'm now at a point where I've tried so many things that I'm locked in on my goals, and not distracted by the shiny objects anymore.

I have lived a thousands lives, have no regrets and the satisfaction of working toward a life I actually dream of, everyday.

And let me tell you, that's a pretty incredible feeling, that I wish everyone gets to experience.

But you gotta go through the hard part first.

Until next week,

MP xx