When raising the title question of the book Why Not Do What You Love? in conversations, I have continually been amazed to hear this Frequently Stated Reaction (FSR) over and over.  It is simply:  “But I don’t know what I love!”

Why would this be true for so many?  What do my blog readers think?  Here are some of my conclusions and I hope to have some comments as responses.

1.One reason might be that members of your family of origin never noticed or applauded your natural tendencies to engage in certain activities which you did love.  Bereft of encouragement to do things differently than what your family may have valued, you may have buried your awareness of your preferences and instead sought approval in the activities that generated their attentions.

2. If you, like me,  are of a certain age, the culturally conforming 50’s  taught  that only certain professions were OK for men and for women.  Typically women were expected to stay home and manage the home life and the family, and men were expected to get a job that brought home the bacon.  That’s pretty much the way it was.  And the residue of that early expectation still exists in the psyches of the older generation.

3. Perhaps, now that you’ve been out in the world working for a while, perhaps you’ve found job security and financial security, and you have family responsibilities.  How could you possibly make a change to seek more fulfillment for yourself?  You have a career, and people are depending on you for what that career supplies.  Under those circumstances, it’s not been OK to listen to your “this is what I love” impulses.

4. And finally, if you are a recent college graduate, particularly of an elite college, you are taught the paths to job success which educational milestone is supposed to guarantee.  While every graduation speaker touts the ‘do what you love’ message, neither parents nor guidance counselors want you to “waste” your years of education and accumulate more  debt by taking time to explore your passions or how you might profit from those passions.

This is an important query which my four thoughts are just a start.  Subsequent blogs will surely continue to reflect on it.  If you happen to be one of those who has  “hidden” or “denied” your own passions, what’s your answer for yourself?   Let me know what you think. Once we get at the source of the issue, and discover what we have done to ourselves, we can often change direction and start moving into the “new.”  I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Blessings to those on the path…