Are you following your passion? or is the passion following you?

If you ask me about passion in the creative industries, I’ll say it is the natural way of things. Creativity and passion go hand in hand. Even more, without passion, you cannot be creative. But how does it emerge in you? How do you find your passion?

After supporting creative entrepreneurs on their personal development plan for three years, I’ve seen how discovering your passion is a hard job to do in life. Some of us find it quick, thanks to the inspiring environments we grow up in. Others have doubts about what they like, since they enjoy doing so many things. In some cases, your passion follows you everywhere, and even if you do not see it, it keeps crashing into your face in the most crucial moments of your life.

That is the case of my old friend, Juana Medina, a Colombian artist who wasn’t aware of her talent until life showed it to her. I’ve know Juana since kindergarten. We attended Rochester School together until high school, and I have always thought she had an amazing talent for drawing. However, she discovered that after she went to the US and took a drawing class at Georgetown, while she was validating her studies as a physical therapist in order to work there.  Her teacher, an inspirational one, questioned and pushed her into studying design. Until then, Juana considered drawing was “something anyone could do”: something natural, something as talking or walking. She didn’t recognized it was a huge talent.

After things became difficult with her career as a physical therapist, Juana started studying Design at Corcoran Arts School at DC, and then found herself in Rhode Island School of Design in an interview. Again, another teacher told her to think about what she desired the most, what was the perfect school for her, what was her dream. That is why she is now a graduate from one of the most important Design Schools in the US, and has had the opportunity to be a teacher at RISD. Juana is also an illustrator for several publishing enterprises, and does animations as a freelancer.  Her passion was following her and found her. Talent, opportunity, openness and timing were there for her to pursue her passion.

When Juana describes how she felt at RISD the first time she went there, she quotes the feeling she had at school when we all participated in the annual show. The show was built by all the students: the ones good at visual arts did the scenery for the stage and designed the invitation and advertisement; the dancers practiced for months, as well as the theatre students; the music was played by the ones enroled at  music class. At show time, creativity was the only thing that mattered. We didn’t sleep, we didn’t attend other lectures, and we were focused on making it perfect. And it was. The whole environment for creativity was set at school. We  were all part of a creative milieu.

Another determinant factor which contributed to Juana’s talent was her family. Juana grew up in a family where art and creativity is the rule. Creativity was not anything ‘different’, ‘snob’ or ‘special’. It was just the regular thing to do. When a kid grows up in this kind of environment, creativity becomes natural; it becomes part of who you are.

As a conclusion, I must say that finding your creative passion must have the following components, which we have seen in Juana’s case:

1. Be aware of your talents. What you think is obvious to you is not obvious to everyone.
2. Become part of creative environments, especially those who allow you to make mistakes and let you explore your abilities. It is vital for you to nurture creativity and start to ‘connect the dots’.
3. Stay open and listen to other people’s advice. Some teachers might inspire you to follow your dreams, and other can ruin them. In both cases, be open and listen. The first one is able to perceive things about you have never seen; the second one might reinforce your beliefs and give you the energy to continue.
4. When things do not work, start thinking what is wrong. Creativity is also about intuition. As Juana said when talking about her career change: “either nothing was working, or everything was working” for her to become an artist.
5. Focus. When you find your passion, focus on it and develop it as much as you can. Set a plan (even if you change it in the way) to nurture your talent with courses, online tools, creative spaces, friends and colleagues that may inspire you to keep working. You’ll soon find your passion will become part of your life, and you’ll see yourself as someone who is living a creative, consistent and rich life.

For more infor about Juana Medina check:  juanamedina.com