Why You Might Have Already Found Your Passion (Without Even Knowing It)

Later in his life, Leonardo Da Vinci wasn’t interested in painting. In Walter Isaacson’s biography Leonardo Da Vinci, someone near Da Vinci noted “He cannot bear the sight of a paintbrush.”

This wasn’t because he was too old or done with working — he was in his mid-fifties at the time. He was simply more interested in scientific endeavors like architecture, mechanics, and engineering.

Anthony Bourdain had a similar transition. After getting a taste for writing and creating media for TV, he never went back to his twenty-year career as a chef.

It might look like these people did a complete turnaround or “reinvented” themselves. But these seemingly “new” interests were there all along.

Da Vinci’s approach to painting was always more scientific than it was artistic. He would study optics to understand how the human eye perceives light. He even dissected human cadavers to ensure his paintings depicted the body accurately, with all its veins and muscles.

This is true for Anthony Bourdain as well. He seemed to alway have a command of language and a dark style of prose. He saw beyond food and into human existence, something that became obvious in his show Parts Unknown. He even took writing workshops and published a book when he was young, although it didn’t get much success.

On a personal note, my most recent endeavor has been writing and content creation. To my friends and family it looks like I’m doing something new, but I believe I started this when I was fourteen years old and was writing stand up and sketch comedy. What I was doing then and now was noticing things about reality and society and capturing them through writing.

What has been your passion all along?

For many people, passion is not something you need to locate or “find” outside yourself. It’s something that has been with you all along. You just need to uncover it.

As children, we know exactly what we like to do. Ask any kid and they will rattle off all their interests and things they like until they’re out of breath.

But why can’t adults do this? What changes between adolescence and adulthood?

The reasons are many. We’re told we’re being impractical. That we have to choose a profession. Or that we should do something prestigious like become a doctor or lawyer. Or maybe with all the options we simply don’t know. Or life circumstances make it difficult and we need to revisit our passions later in life.

Whatever the reason may be, you’re reading this now which means you’re interested in rediscovering your passions.

I’ve written about how to approach this—journaling exercises and experimentation are great tools I recommend you try.

Just remember that it’s a process that can take some time and trial and error.