So, how do we find activities that interest us?
Here are some helpful guidelines:
1.
Be okay with not knowing. You do not have to be
sure you are truly interested in an activity before you decide to pursue it.
You can remind yourself that the purpose of pursuing it is to discover whether it is interesting/inspiring. It
is important to develop patience with yourself.
It may take several tries before finding an activity that suits you.
2. Revisit
the past. It can be helpful to think about what you spent most of your time doing
as a child, preferably before the age of 6.
The goal behind this is to reconnect with the true self at a time when you were less preoccupied with self-judgment and societal norms that become firmly planted in our consciousness by school age. These
are norms which tell us things like:
such and such is a boy’s activity and vice versa or the other girls in
your school are learning this, so you will, too or your sibling was good at
this, you will be as well.
It can be natural
to overlook an activity, thinking it is ‘silly’ or cannot possibly have
relevance to adult life, however, when we look beyond the obvious, we find that
any activity can have value on our path to self-discovery. Ask the following as it relates to a
childhood interest:
·
Is it a group/team or lone activity?
·
In what environment does it take place? (outdoors, indoors, stage, noisy, quiet)
·
What type of energy does it primarily utilize? Physical, Mental, or Emotional
·
What talents/skills does it help to develop?
Visual (drawing, painting, arranging elements in a pleasing way) Kinesthetic
(dancing, sports) Auditory ( playing, listening, creating music) Logical
(puzzles, legos, mazes, strategy games) Language (reading, writing, word games)
A good example of reconnecting with a
childhood interest involves a young man who would, as a child, spend hours at a
time arranging action figures for various battles, ‘peace talks’, etc. This evolved into an interest in action movies,
then an interest in the behind-the-scenes process of film-making which ultimately led to a
career in directing. This career
utilizes the ability to ‘arrange’ actors, scenery, and dialogue. Another example is a young woman who, as a
child, would ‘play house’ for hours with others and develop elaborate
storylines about each pretend family member.
This ability/interest evolved into the activity of story-writing.
3.
Let go of being good at something. You can
experience benefits from an activity just by engaging in the process
itself, regardless of the outcome. When you are too focused on doing it right or being the best, you can miss an
opportunity to feel relaxed, fully present, tuned in to your body, and inspired.
May we all find the motivation to continue on
our path of self-discovery, celebrating the process of our seeking rather than
the end result only.
