Why Chasing Passion Might Be Keeping You Stuck

Are you waiting for passion to strike like lightning? What if that’s exactly what’s keeping you stuck?

In this episode, we’re challenging the age-old advice to follow your passion and replacing it with something far more powerful—curiosity. Passion is amazing when it’s there, but what happens when it’s not? If you’ve ever felt lost, unsure of what truly lights you up, or frustrated because you can’t seem to find your thing—this episode is for you.

I’m sharing an eye-opening quote from Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic, that completely reframed the way I think about creativity, fulfillment, and what’s next. It turns out, the little whispers of curiosity—the things you Google, gravitate toward, or can’t stop thinking about—are the real breadcrumbs leading you to your most aligned, exciting life.

I’ll also share my own experience of ignoring curiosity (while desperately searching for my passion) and the surprising way it led me exactly where I was meant to go. Plus, I’ll walk you through a simple challenge to reconnect with your own sense of wonder and start following the right clues.

In This Episode, We’ll Talk About:

• The surprising truth about passion—and why it might not be the answer
• The powerful Elizabeth Gilbert quote that changed everything for me
• How curiosity is always available, always whispering—if you choose to listen
• My own story of ignoring curiosity (and how it led me back to myself)
• A simple challenge to help you tune into what’s quietly calling you

Resources & Mentions:

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear – Elizabeth Gilbert
• Eat, Pray, Love (Book & Movie)

Sponsor:
Sponsored by Jen Chambers, host of Resilient with Jen Chambers, a podcast sharing real stories of perseverance, healing, and hope. Want to share your own story of resilience? Submit it for Woven With Light, Mended With Gold at www.jennifer-chambers.com or connect with Jen on Instagram @jennifer_chambers_.

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Transcript

Episode 7: Why Chasing Passion Might Be Keeping You Stuck

[00:00:00] 

This episode is an invitation to shift from fear to curiosity, to rediscover that little spark inside you that maybe, just maybe has been trying to get your attention all along. And I'm recording this episode with my beautiful cat Jade. So you might hear a little bit of her purring and I hope that if you do, it brings you some comfort.

But let's just talk about this whole, just follow your passion thing. Before I get into it though, I wanted to share a quote that I recently [00:01:00] discovered from one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Gilbert. She wrote the book, Eat, Pray, Love. And it was about her real life adventure of healing and self discovery, where she eats her way through Italy and meditates in India and finds balance and love in Bali.

Her best selling memoir sold over 12 million copies worldwide and was later adapted into a movie starring Julia Roberts. She also wrote Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear. This was an honest take on creativity where She shows us how to stop overthinking and to trust her inspiration and create without fear.

This book went on to become a number one New York times bestseller and inspired countless people to embrace their creative spark. And I just can't recommend it enough. It's one of my favorite books and I highly recommend the audio version of it. I used to come home from work and grab [00:02:00] my, um, Um, shoes, my walking shoes and go for walks and I would listen to it and she just has one of those voices that they're so soothing.

Um, so it just really added to the experience, but let me share this, this quote from her to have a creative life is simply this, a creatively lived life is any life where consistently routinely habitually and constantly. You choose the path of curiosity over the path of fear, not once, not twice, not a few times, but all the times, all the times.

And I say curiosity more than passion because I think we live in a passion fetishizing society where people are constantly being given this often very unhelpful piece of advice.

 [00:03:00] Which is follow your passion. Follow your passion. Passion is the big tower flame on the hill. It's lightning in the bottle.

It's the voice of God. It's all very exciting. If you should happen to run into it. But it's not always there. Every single day, you can be curious. Because every single day, Curiosity approaches you and taps on your shoulder almost to the point that you can't even feel it and whispers in your ear, Hey, what's that?

It's just like a little tiny clue. It's a scavenger hunt. You will have a creative life because your curiosity is different from everyone else's, and it will create a life unique to you. I just want to pause and just let her word sink in for a second.

[00:04:00] I think this quote hit me so hard because for the longest, I couldn't tell you what I was passionate about. When you would hear people say, follow your passion or you know, what is it that you do want to do or what do you love to do or what are you really good at? I don't know. It just. Passion always felt like this huge, elusive thing that I had to find.

And honestly, I no longer knew at that point in my life. I just didn't know, but curiosity? That never left me. It never abandoned me. It kept trying to get my attention. Not always in the obvious ways, but it was there. I chose to ignore it a lot. But these tiny curiosities, they just kept showing up. It was, you know, things I googled, books I picked up, conversations that just lit me up.

It was always whispering, [00:05:00] but I kept shushing it. And ironically enough, it was because I was trying to quiet it down so I could focus on trying to find my passion. Passion is big. It's loud. It's intense. It's amazing when it's there, but it's also unreliable. Curiosity is quiet, consistent, and it's always available.

Are you someone who has faced life's challenges with strength and resilience? You might enjoy Resilient with Jen Chambers, a podcast that amplifies real stories of perseverance, healing, and hope. Whether you're navigating chronic illness, personal adversity, or simply seeking inspiration, this show reminds you that your voice matters.

Right now, you have a chance to share your own story for free in Woven with Light, Mend It with Gold, a print anthology [00:06:00] featuring true stories of resilience. If you have a story of overcoming obstacles, this is your opportunity to be published and inspire others. Submit your story or learn more at jennifer chambers. com or on Instagram at jennifer underscore chambers underscore. Links in the show notes. Your voice matters. Share it today. So instead of waiting for passion to strike like lightning or show up, Just follow curiosity like breadcrumbs. And I touched on this concept of follow the breadcrumbs in my episode about how to stop obsessing over the how and finally move forward. Check it out if you haven't already because this was the magic for me.

This was the magic that started pulling me out of my slump and towards my next chapter. Breadcrumbs, [00:07:00] curiosity, they're interchangeable because breadcrumbs are. are also what you're curious about.

You know, I think back to, I think it was 2020, around the time that I left my career. One of the things that kind of caught my curiosity was this concept called human design. And I'll go into it more in future episodes. And I don't remember how I, how I discovered it, but when I did, I just read everything I could get my hands on and I just devoured it.

But then. I talked myself out of it and put all my books back on the shelf and just said, no, we, we've got to focus on figuring out this passion thing, Tracy, like totally missed that clue. And now it's something that I do. It's something that I do for a living that I love and it brings me so much joy. And I love seeing what it does for people [00:08:00] when they realize.

They rediscover who they truly are, right? They get this permission to be exactly who they are. And that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't just simply followed something. Somehow I heard about it and thought, huh, I wonder what that's all about. And then it led me to kind of where I am today. So your challenge for this week is I want you to go on a curiosity scavenger hunt.

Don't force it. Don't carve out time for this. Just get curious about what you're curious about and start noticing all the things. Drown out all the unnecessary, unhelpful noise and tune into that little subtle tap of, Hey, what's that? From the small to the big, from the obvious to the not so obvious, let's exercise our [00:09:00] curiosity muscle again.

That used to be so strong and dominant when we were little. Before the world told us to knock it off and get back to work and get serious and focus on what they wanted us to focus on and what they felt was most important, let's give ourselves permission again to get curious. And you can start with asking yourself, what little things are pulling at my attention lately?

Or what do you find yourself Googling or wanting to learn more about? Like what tiny moments of wonder have shown up that you've just kind of brushed aside? Another interesting thing to do is notice what's in your social media feed. Besides all the political noise that is just taking over, what you'll find left are also little clues.

I actually recently went on a social media [00:10:00] diet and just said that I wasn't interested in anything that was, was political. And what remained in my feed was beautiful. I mean, it was everything that I love, um, that I'm interested in. That brings me joy. That makes me laugh. That makes me smile. So the algorithm on these social media feeds, they're powerful.

And it shows you what you're interested in. It gives you more of it. Whatever you're interacting with, whatever you're, um, It's going to send you more of it. So you'll start to see these are things that I'm curious about. So follow those nudges, even if it seems random or insignificant, because curiosity is a muscle.

We don't always think of it like that, but it is. And we've all let that muscle go a little. But it's still there. It's waiting for us to use it again. So [00:11:00] again, let yourself be a kid again. Curiosity was our superpower, right? Before the world just told us to get serious. Let's make curiosity a habit again.

Not just today, not just this week, but all the times, as Elizabeth Gilbert says. 

So get curious about what you're curious about. Notice what's pulling at you. And if something cool comes up, I'd love to hear about it. Shoot me a message or tag me. And if you're not already getting my thought gems or my free guide, Finding Your Beautiful Fix, head over to beautifulfix. com and sign up.

Every Sunday I drop a little gem to set the tone for your week. So until next time. Stay curious, my friends. [00:12:00]