Recently a trip to Sydney let me meet some really interesting people that I wouldn’t be able to meet if I stayed in my standard daily routine.
- Why a professional dancer is selling menswear today:
During my beautiful trip to Sydney, I bought some gifts for my dad from a menswear store in Sydney CBD. The menswear manager is a very interesting person: He told me that he was a professional dancer and singer for many years because he studied creative arts at tertiary level and has a Bachelor of Dance from a well-known university. In his late 30s, he changed his career because for some reason he wasn’t able to continue his musical career. He is stylish, gay and artistically expressive. He is the best-dressed person that I’ve ever met. On his Instagram page, I saw a lot of amazing photos because photography is something that he is very interested in as well. Many of those photos are about menswear. He genuinely likes fashion, so instead of continuing his musical career, he started to work in menswear. Now he is the manager of a menswear store in Sydney City.
“If you ask me what I’m passionate about, I would say it’s hard to choose one thing to be passionate about,” he says, “I think at different stages in life, I’m interested in different things. When I was much younger, I was totally interested in singing and dancing. At that time, I already liked fashion because I always enjoyed choosing every outfit for the performance on the stage. After changing my career, I know I’m also definitely interested in fashion.”
I would argue that instead of wondering what you are passionate about while choosing a career, you would be well-advised to figure out what you are curious about right now, what you are reasonably interested in, and what you are keen to try. Do that. You won’t disappoint yourself because your curiosity deserves some effort and focus!
Indeed, singing and dancing are artistic expression. So is fashion. Because this menswear manager prioritizes his key value (artistic expression), he can have a musical career or a fashion career. In other words, his values are more important than his career choices, as values drive career directions.
- Where is your passion?
My cousin told me that she would like to be an entrepreneur many years ago, but today she is still wondering what she should do.
Last week, I asked my cousin to write a creative story that I will need for a project later this year, she did it extremely well. In fact, she stayed up until 1am just to finish writing that creative story because she was so into it. As a result, I said to her, “You should be a self-employed freelance writer. That’s also entrepreneurship.”
She just doesn’t believe it. She can’t believe it’s so simple. Passion is something that is right in front of her. It’s something that she enjoyed doing for decades.
Frankly, if you have to proactively look for what you are truly passionate about, that means you are not passionate about it, because if you are actually passionate about it, it would feel like a necessary part of your life already. Other people would tell you that they find something hard to do, but you can achieve that really easily as it’s so obvious to you.
I’m sure you enjoy many things already. Don’t ignore them.
“A trip to Sydney helped me realize that if you have to deliberately look for what you enjoy, probably you won’t enjoy anything and it’s time to uncover the passion that exists in your life already.”
