I Followed My Passion And It Was The Worst Decision I’ve Ever Made

Six months ago, I decided to quit my job and started a new one, which never related to my major back in college. I studied Psychology. I was an HR officer. And now, I’m a content writer in a startup company.

It didn’t take a very long time to have a firm decision for leaving my previous job as I am a strong believer of some cliché quotes like “always follow your passion” or “listen to your heart.”

So, I did follow my gut and it was the best decision I’ve ever made in my life, but also the worst.

Ever since I became a Psychology major, everything about Psychology has always been my comfort zone. But, I don’t want to end up being a psychologist or a Human Resource (HR) officer just because I love the feeling of sharing my point of views through my writing. So, 2 and a half years ago, I’ve decided to choose my career as a writer.

After I left my first job as an HR officer and decided to be a content writer, I was beyond excited. I felt like my prayers had been heard and I was pretty sure that my dream had come true. But then, I was wrong; it’s not as easy as it sounds.

It turns out that to follow your passion means you need to get out of your comfort zone.

In my current job right now, I write about business and data-driven articles, I pitch stories from various angles, and I’m responsible for the weekly content planning. I used my logic more often than my emotions, which means it’s something which is out of my comfort zone.

Everything I’ve done in my job was never taught in my major and so I need to figure things out from the scratch. I learned a lot of new things and I have failed million times. I had anxiety and insecurity every time they gave me new challenges; I struggled a lot.

So, I learned that to follow your passion is not only about finding something that you love to do, but it’s also about having the courage to break your own limit.

To follow your passion is about how far you can go and how strong your determination is to raise your own standard towards something you’ve been enjoying. It’s about taking challenges and knowing yourself better than before. It’s more than about what your heart tells you to do, but it’s about what else you can achieve by giving your best efforts.

To follow your passion means that you need to always have perseverance and courage to do more; it’s about giving your all or nothing at all.

By following my passion, I’ve made a lifelong commitment to work harder towards being an expert writer. To follow my passion means that I need to be brave enough of doing new things, confronting challenges, being criticized, and keeping the flames of being in love with what I do every day.

You see, having a job which you’re passionate about doesn’t mean that your life will be easy. Trust me, you’ll have problems here and there; your life will be a mess and full of struggles. To follow your passion doesn’t mean that you’ll be lucky along the way.

But, having a job which you’re passionate about only means that you’re choosing the problems which you enjoy solving every day.

You need to always remember that there will always be consequences in everything that you choose. To follow your passion is a love-hate relationship with what you do and it’s not always full of sunshine and roses.

At the end of the day, life is all about struggles anyway. So don’t waste your time for struggling over something that you actually hate.