Saturday, June 26, 2010 @1:54 am
I was on the night rider on the way home. It was really crowded. so I plastered myself to the side, and right in front of my were a couple of poly students. All the way from orchard to geylang, the girl was trying to explain to the guy why she wanted to travel.
They were year 3 design students from poly, and recently, the school had been getting people to talk to them, and the one thing she took away from those talks was that one should be passionate about what one does. So she wanted to travel to find her inspiration. She didn't want to settle.
She wanted to do something she was 100% passionate about, not something she maybe liked 80%. Fair enough.
If there were 100 things to do in the world, she didn't want to stop at maybe number 5. She wanted to travel the world, and maybe somewhere, she'll experience number 67 and fall in love with it, and voila, her life calling.
(I don't know if they guy with her was her boyfriend, but I was thinking, so there are billions of guys in the world...are you going to globetrot till you find the one you fall in love with at first sight?)
Bottomline argument, she doesn't know what she wants to do, she hasn't found her life's passion, therefore she has to travel.
The guy tried to convince her that she could find something she liked if she stayed put too. Apparently, her dad said 'Yes, people travel and get inspired. I stay in Singapore, and get inspired too.' He tried to leverage on that, but she was insistent, giving the example of a photographer who found his love for his art at the age of 35.
So then, her question was, if I am destined to find the one thing I'm passionate about at the age of 35, what am I to do from now till then?
The guy was apparently lucky, because he loved music and was good at it, so could live off it. But it apparently was a different matter for her.
I was almost reaching home, so I thought I absolutely had to throw in my two cents worth or burst. I absolutely agree with and applaud her desire to do something she's passionate about in life. However, you can't go actively hunting for it! That is no excuse to spend your life travelling and do nothing else until you find your life's passion! One, there's no guarantee that you'll find it. Say you are destined to find it at age 40, what then? Two, you can travel aimlessly. Three, there must be something you can do with life!
Make the best out of your situation for goodness sake. If you're financially capable, travel all you like and do whatever you want. But if you're like most people and need to make a living, do the best with what you have, hopefully find a job that you like, and do what you're 80% passionate about. If its really your destiny to find your 100% passion, you'll find it out of work!