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Ask HN: How do you discover what you're passionate about?

by cgb223 on 11/12/23, 4:57 PM with 5 comments

I feel like I’m stuck in a rut and I have nothing that I’m passionate about.

I want to find a job where I feel fulfilled or at least a hobby that I get actively excited to do. Maybe start my own company based on the above.

But I have no idea how to find that “thing”.

When I was a teenager, I had a ton of excitement about specific things and the energy to go learn every little thing about them, but now in my 30s, even if I know I’m interested in a subject, I barely pursue the topic.

It’s like there’s a wall of apathy between the thing I might be interested in and the act of following it.

I’m not depressed.

I have an active social and dating life, I eat well, sleep well, have a good relationship with my family.

But the spark and passion that I felt maybe 10 years ago is gone.

How do I rediscover what I enjoy and do something with that?

  • by wmlive on 11/12/23, 5:22 PM

    Most generic advice: Start by excluding what you are not passionate about until that which remains has been uncovered. The remains in itself will most probably not be signaling anything reminiscient of passion at first. But once you dedicate yourself to it wholeheartedly, the passion you wish for will eventually appear within yourself. If it doesn't, start again as outlined in the beginning, in a constant cycle. The cycles will eventually diminish and become less and less. Doing is the way to go.

  • by politelemon on 11/12/23, 5:31 PM

    > I want to find a job where I feel fulfilled or at least a hobby that I get actively excited to do. Maybe start my own company based on the above.

    I'm probably reading a lot into this but we are strangers on the internet, so here goes:

    I think you're conflating passion with productivity. They are two separate things. Fulfillment and passion do not necessarily overlap with productivity and profit. Please do not use HN as a basis for reality, we are not representative and we are certainly not a useful indicator of how to live.

    If you are seeking a passion, do not add requirements onto it, that's just scope creep. If you try and remove those additional bits from your thought process, you might find that you already do have something you're interested in. Or several even.

    You do not need to be energetic about it either, again I think that's a bit of the productivity FOMO creeping in. It can be a waveform of increasing and decreasing interest, that's completely OK.

    Enjoy things at your own pace, that is all. If you realize you enjoy something mundane, that's good enough. The things you're interested in are for you to be interested in, and not for others... so don't be disappointed if it's not something usable as a party conversation filler.

  • by breckenedge on 11/12/23, 5:18 PM

    You have to get out there and try different things with different people.

    That “wall of apathy” is knowing that that thing you’re interested in is actually not that important to you and you want to conserve your energy for the things that actually are important to you.

    Starting a business may bring that fulfillment, but be careful because it can also burn you out (especially if you think you’re in a rut now).

  • by undopamine on 11/13/23, 4:59 PM

    Where do you find yourself spending all your free time? What activity do you resort to by default, the moment you have free time at hand? What's something that could keep you awake at nights? What did you love doing when you didn't have money responsibilities?

    Spend time with yourself. Ask yourself questions like these again and again. List the activities and related areas of interest you used to enjoy. That's your search space.

  • by night-rider on 11/12/23, 6:58 PM

    My advice is, be prolific in many areas and find something that sticks. The old saying: 'throw mud at the wall and see what sticks'.