Guest Post: Pursuing your Passion

Happy Thursday Everybody!

It’s a white Thursday for myself:

I thought the weather was supposed to get more spooky, not jolly…

This week, my friend Matthew Nafe tells of his journey to find his passion. In life, most of us are faced with a decision: stick with what’s comfortable, or have faith and go after something you love.

There’s usually a risk involved with following your passion. Maybe it’s a financial loss or gamble. Maybe it’s a move to a new city. No matter the stakes, the future is scary.

As Matthew touches on, the freedom and satisfaction felt once you take that step of faith towards something you love outweighs any risk. Heck, starting this webspace was a risk, but I wouldn’t trade the result for the world. Doing something you love really changes your perspective of what work is. If you’re stuck in the nine-to-five grind and really not enjoying it, this blog post is for you. If you need help finding and embracing your passion, let’s talk.

Please, welcome our first guest writer, Matthew!

One day I realized it was no longer happy with my career choice. I then decided that moving towards something that I was more interested in was better for me. I decided to follow a passion and sports. I went from getting a university degree and figuring I would be a teacher in my future, then realizing that I just did not want to do that. Once I got my degree, I moved towards applying for a program that suited my interests. When I did the program, I remember leaving after the first day realizing wow this was exactly what I needed to be doing. Since then I’ve been extremely lucky with all the opportunities that I’ve been able to take part in and the network that I’ve been able to establish. I’ve worked with the Canadian Lacrosse association, Canada basketball, the NHL and I now work for lawn bowling Canada. I’m not here to brag or talk up my experiences what I am here to talk about is how excellent my life has been since I decided to pursue something that I legitimately love doing.

My last year at Carlton was very difficult because I faced a lot of adversity that I was not expecting to. Once I finally graduated I became more nervous looking forward to following something that I wanted to. My mood to begin to change and my entire demeanour towards life was more positive as opposed to when I was still in university I was finding it difficult looking towards the future. I was lost I didn’t know exactly what I needed to be doing and once I finally found a program that suited my needs it was night and day where I should be.

What I did want to write about in this was to show people to not be afraid of pursuing their passions. Passions are what drives our every day, what we look forward to with our hobbies, and finally how we cope with a lot of things. Some hobbies and some passions Aren’t as easy to follow and I understand that, but what I do want to show people is that they are not alone with feeling lost in their future decisions and not knowing what to do. If you love something and you think you’re good at it why not give it a shot I always dreamed of playing in the NHL, With that now no longer being a realistic goal, I definitely have the ability to work within it. My advice and my story does not need to be the be-all and all, but at the very least my hope is to give another voice to a different direction.