Is finding your 'passion' in a career a lie?

It’s a difficult one. Whilst I am very happy with my current career path, I wouldn’t say it my passion. My passion would have been to become an astronaut, but realistically that was never going to happen.

I have come to conclusion that whilst some are fortunate to truly follow their dreams, the vast majority of people settle into a career path that they don’t dislike and are satisfied with but aren’t truly “in love” with

This idea of dislike is what's interesting. I would say most people won't dislike a position if it pays reasonably well, has some stimulation, and avoids discomfort. And I suspect this is where many individuals settle into jobs that offer just that, but they know they aren't happy, but equally don't want to, or can't do anything about it. It's also interesting to explore the idea of whether its the cognitive dissonance that's causing them to simply not dislike it, instead of being honest with themselves and saying they hate it because it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

I can probably try really hard to get onto a graduate scheme and work for a large corp and get everything to make me not hate my job, but not jump out of bed every morning either; but that also means selling myself and really not being a benefit to society.

Isn't the goal of life to try and get paid for what we individually consider playing?

I finished up my Masters about 5 years ago, initially wanted to enter into clinical psychology. I began preparing myself in terms of getting the right experience. Along the way, I spent a long time in clinical research rubbing shoulders with different professions within healthcare and being exposed to the healthcare machine as I would perhaps come to realise it had I followed my original plan. I ditched my original career aspirations as I didn’t think they would satisfy me for what I was sacrificing myself for in terms of gaining experience over half a decade - this could not be made up with the slow progression and mediocre pay; not to mention the changing and depleting landscape of the NHS’s mental health sphere.

I recently quit my permanent job in research earlier this year - it was a dead end position where the only way up was getting a PhD and most likely being clueless at the end of it with poor pay and job security. Not to mention I decided against academia since what I’ve experienced so far to be a complete waste of time and egotistical driven most of which is fluff and actually has very little impact in ‘contribution’.

I am now 5 year post-graduation without a career planned out and very confused with the idea of following one’s ‘passion’ or ‘interests’. After lots of discussion with people, I’ve concluded that most people aren’t actually happy with the work they do, but perhaps with the perks, salary and the fact they have a job at all masks their internal dissatisfaction with their own lives and usually don’t want to talk about how their aspiration and ambitions in life are no longer feasible to pursue.

One thing I do feel I need to be part of is a real and direct positive impact to society. I’ve flirted with the idea of medicine for a few years now, and I have all the relevant experience to pursue it, BUT I don’t know whether it will bring me fulfilment and contentment. I’ve been told that it’s selfish to want to have fillings of satisfaction after being altruistic with my time via profession or donation - but isn’t that the human condition?

One interesting theory I came across earlier is that people become passionate about their jobs after spending time doing it and becoming better at it. But I can’t see how I can just randomly pick out a position I think might work and actively ‘love’ my job in the hope that it will do the same back.

In conclusion, I could do what everyone else is doing, find a decent job with progression, sell myself and make the company money, dislike my work life (but not talk about it), then eventually die and wonder why I didn't 'follow my dreams' - what ever that mean.

I finished up my Masters about 5 years ago, initially wanted to enter into clinical psychology. I began preparing myself in terms of getting the right experience. Along the way, I spent a long time in clinical research rubbing shoulders with different professions within healthcare and being exposed to the healthcare machine as I would perhaps come to realise it had I followed my original plan. I ditched my original career aspirations as I didn’t think they would satisfy me for what I was sacrificing myself for in terms of gaining experience over half a decade - this could not be made up with the slow progression and mediocre pay; not to mention the changing and depleting landscape of the NHS’s mental health sphere.

I recently quit my permanent job in research earlier this year - it was a dead end position where the only way up was getting a PhD and most likely being clueless at the end of it with poor pay and job security. Not to mention I decided against academia since what I’ve experienced so far to be a complete waste of time and egotistical driven most of which is fluff and actually has very little impact in ‘contribution’.

I am now 5 year post-graduation without a career planned out and very confused with the idea of following one’s ‘passion’ or ‘interests’. After lots of discussion with people, I’ve concluded that most people aren’t actually happy with the work they do, but perhaps with the perks, salary and the fact they have a job at all masks their internal dissatisfaction with their own lives and usually don’t want to talk about how their aspiration and ambitions in life are no longer feasible to pursue.

One thing I do feel I need to be part of is a real and direct positive impact to society. I’ve flirted with the idea of medicine for a few years now, and I have all the relevant experience to pursue it, BUT I don’t know whether it will bring me fulfilment and contentment. I’ve been told that it’s selfish to want to have fillings of satisfaction after being altruistic with my time via profession or donation - but isn’t that the human condition?

One interesting theory I came across earlier is that people become passionate about their jobs after spending time doing it and becoming better at it. But I can’t see how I can just randomly pick out a position I think might work and actively ‘love’ my job in the hope that it will do the same back.

In conclusion, I could do what everyone else is doing, find a decent job with progression, sell myself and make the company money, dislike my work life (but not talk about it), then eventually die and wonder why I didn't 'follow my dreams' - what ever that mean.

You have to find a job you hate the least, basically. Very few are lucky enough to do something they absolutely love, or their hobby, as their career. If you left your field and worked in an entirely different one where you had little interest in (assuming you studied psychology because you were interested in it), you'd likely not be very happy and prefer your previous job.

In conclusion, I could do what everyone else is doing, find a decent job with progression, sell myself and make the company money, dislike my work life (but not talk about it), then eventually die and wonder why I didn't 'follow my dreams' - what ever that mean.

This is the exact reason why people dont get a job they love, they just make excuses like that person just got lucky* etc. If you actually know what your dream career is (note I am not talking about 'oh I read about this and it sounds like it would be amazing' I mean you have actually tried that or something similar and found you love it) then there is no reason why you cant get to the stage where you can work in that career**. People just dont want to make the sacrifices that need to be made to get there for the most part

* - I dont mean careers like famous singer, astronaut etc where 1 in 100 million people get there, more like doctor, painter, actor/actress where the skill is just hard to learn and the career is difficult to break into but is still realistic to get into

** - exception to this is if you have a disability that physically prevents you from performing the skills required to do that job

In an ideal world, I'd rather not work at all. I was interested in working with animals but due to my health, I realised I couldn't do a physically strenuous job, with long hours and little pay, for the rest of my life. I certainly didn't wish to do a degree for a job that would only ever pay me £27K at most.
My second interest is psychology so I'm doing a degree in that and psychologists can start on £32K and work up to £45k (yes, earnings are really important to me.)
What I meant in what I said is that I've seen people who literally do their hobby, but also get paid for it. They're often in jobs that are one in a million and their role is what their hobby is. Psychology isn't my hobby, it's an interest and a means to survive in life. My hobbies are gaming, cross stitching and doing art. Not many people get to get paid to game or do art to the point it's financially sustainable, but there are those out there who do!
I'd love to be an underwater photographer for the Blue Planet but those jobs are one in a million and those people love their jobs because they get to do what they love, as well as meet all sorts of animals and travel the world!