HAVE YOU LOST YOUR SPARK IN MIDLIFE?

Have you ever felt that guilt pang, when on a rainy Wednesday evening, as you’re tidying up the house – again – you wonder: is this it?

That guilt comes from realising that the tedious tasks of daily life have taken over; that you’ve forgotten what makes you “you”. You’ve become disconnected from what you love and that feeling of being lit up inside, and realise: “I’ve lost my passion. How do I get it back?”

The problem is that to say we want “more” feels like a betrayal of the life we’ve worked hard to build. So, after that guilt pang hits, we brush it off and just keep going.

Here’s what helps…

As simple as it may sound, to rediscover a past passion you need to engage with it again – or find a new one! And that can be intimidating after years of prioritizing others.

So, try being a “proud dabbler”. Dabbling is misunderstood – it sounds uncommitted and frivolous – but when you’re trying to rediscover your passion, a lack of pressure is precisely what you need.

Choose one activity to begin with; try it without any expectation of mastery, and if it lights you up inside, keep going. If it doesn’t, try something else. Better yet, find a “dabbling partner” to share your experiments with and encourage each other along the way.

The “passionate people” you see out there aren’t perfect, and many still juggle responsibilities. What they’re doing is weaving what they love into their lives, where they can, knowing that even an hour of engaging with a passion at the weekend can make all the difference to their happiness.

Laura Best is a keynote speaker, bestselling author of Born to Buzz: How to Spark Your Passions (Without Quitting it All) and founder of Passion Collective.