Academics can feel boring at times. Or for you, it could be boring all the time…
This is where finding your passion and hobbies outside your academic life makes things fun and rewarding for you. You get the opportunity to discover interesting facts about yourself and also make your university experience rich, whether you are in a private faith-based university like ours or in Public University.
But how do you identify a passion and a hobby?
Passion is a powerful emotion or intense desire that drives you to pursue an interest with enthusiasm and dedication, to become better at it or just for the pure pleasure of doing it. Hobby on the other end is an interest you do just for fun, relaxation or free time. For passion, it consumes your thoughts and time. It can be a source of great joy and fulfilment in life. It is also possible for your hobby to become your passion.
Simply, hobbies and passion are both things you enjoy, but hobbies are what you enjoy doing in your free time, while passion are things you feel driven to pursue and you make time for. You might have many hobbies or interests but passions are the things that truly captivate you.
You may feel at loss of what truly interests you. Or, maybe you are one with many interests but yet to identify your passion?
Here are practical things you can do to discover your passion and interest outside your academics:
- Explore/Try new things: Experiment and explore around different hobbies, sports, arts or activities that spurs your interests. You can also attend free or paid training, join clubs or explore different communities that could broaden your perspective about that interest. But for those who already have many interests, but seek to identify their passion, read on for what you can do.
- Reflect on Past Experiences: Think about activities or experiences that you have had or engaged in that brought you joy, fulfilment and satisfaction. You can think of mining out the reasons those activities resonated with you. Within those reasons lie the pointers to your passion. Surprisingly, your passion might surprise you because it is unusual, like an experience (maybe peace, love, self-care, boldness and so on) you like people to have around you and you go any length to make it happen, or your love for beauty, or it could just be a singular act of solving problems. Find the connecting dots between the interests and experiences you have had that excite you.
- Follow your curiosity: Pay attention to activities or subjects that naturally spur your curiosity. When you pursue those interests, it can lead to your passion which will enrich your life.
- Seek advice/Counsel from people who might have gone ahead of you: This could be your parents, elderly ones, mentors or people who you look up to in that field you have developed interest in.If you don’t have direct access to these persons, read their books or listen to their podcasts or simply send an email or a dm. Find a way to connect with them without being annoying.
- Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone.
These tips are going to lead you to identify the passion or hobby just right for you, but that’s not all. The icing on this cake is knowing that your passion can also help you boost your academic performance. How? Watch this blog for more updates.
Meanwhile, here is a list of interests that you could try out:
- Mobile photography
- Reading novels
- Learning a new language
- Public Speaking
- Podcasting
- Hyper-realistic drawing
- Movie Critic
- Screen-Writing
- Coding
- Volunteering for a social cause
What other interesting hobbies would you suggest for a University Student? Let us hear your comments below.
