Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of writing done. I went back into the editing cave to do some work after getting some feedback from a beta reader. So, I’m making some more changes to my story. Cross your fingers for me.
But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about doing something that feeds your soul. As my boys grow and develop, I’m always trying to tell them to follow your passion, find something that makes you feel alive and do it. It’s hard for our kids to find this right now because it is the age of computers, social media, and video games. None of these things help kids find their calling, unless they’re doing a google search, but that even leaves them wanting more.
Since video games and social media are interested in engagement, they do anything they can to entice our young people to stay engaged. This leaves little time for pursuing other interests. That’s the way social media gurus and game manufacturers want it. Did you know that Facebook is starting to take over virtual reality? For more information about this click here: https://lisaorchard.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/dont-look-now-but-social-media-is-taking-control-of-virtual-reality/
This means kids are spending less time finding something that feeds their souls. This trend is dangerous. I feel that this might be one of the reasons teen suicide and depression are on the rise. Social media cannot replace the true connection of finding your life purpose. It takes a long time to find out what your life purpose is, you have to go through many things to grow and change before you truly connect with what sets your soul on fire.
The pandemic makes it harder, too. Because we’ve shut everything down, my youngest isn’t playing tennis and he’s lost interest in school. His grades are still good, but he’s not as interested as he used to be. The only thing he can do at this time is play video games and shoot baskets. These are challenging times to say the least.
We need to get our young people creating things. Starting from scratch and making something. Be it a story, or pottery, or even creating a video game. That’s how we learn when we build something from scratch. That’s how kids find their passions.
It doesn’t have to be a way to make money. Their passion will sustain them when they get bored with their job or during times of stress. It will help them build their resilience, so when life knocks them down, they’ll be able to pick themselves back up.
So, what’s your passion and how did you find it? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!
Yes. I. Am. Following my Passion, that is! It’s hard when kids (and adults) are trying to figure out life and what brings them joy. It’s truly what energizes you, not depletes you. Great post, Lisa!
Thanks for stopping by, Sharon and sharing your thoughts! I appreciate it!
I found my first passion, ballet, the old fashioned way–by my mom roping me into it. Ha! I loved it, but really it required my mom’s direction to get me going, at six years old. Writing came later and more naturally–it was the only thing at college I was really good at. As much as my boys tell me they don’t have a passion for piano, I plan to rope them into some lessons as soon as COVID will allow. We have a piano and a organ, both hand-me-downs, I hate to see go to waste. And I don’t play!
I hear you. Learning a musical instrument is so good for our brains, too. I wish my boys had learned to play, but they had no interest in musical instruments. My oldest was given a play guitar when he was little, but had zero interest in learning how to play. I wonder if we would’ve forced the issue, if he would’ve developed an interest for it. Hubby didn’t want to push them to do anything because he felt his parents did too much of that growing up, but I feel there were times we probably should have. Ugh. This parenting thing is hard. LOL!
Yes, very hard! Totally in agreement there!
I agree so much! I’ve never happier than when I’m creating just about anything, but my daughter just wants to play computer games all day. She’s 22 and this week finished a grueling 4 1/2 years of uni so I cut her some slack, but I wish she would paint or write or do ANYTHING creative! At least when she was playing D and D online, she was writing these really cool adventures for the group and really researching them, but now it’s just shooting stuff (virtually of course!).
I hear you! Same with my boys. My youngest used to read all the time, but he doesn’t any more. He’s too busy with his video games. Sigh. What they really need to do is find something they’re passionate about so they can pursue that. My oldest seems to be leading toward computer programming and I hope my youngest finds something like that soon. 🙂 Fingers crossed.
My daughter will be starting school in a Veterinary Technician program in the fall so there’s that😊
How cool is that! Good luck to her! ❤
Thanks!