Identifying passions with the School of Life
I've been eyeing up The School of Life for a while. Situated on Marchmont Street near Russell Square, this organisation specialises in developing emotional intelligence through culture. Alongside a shop, they also run classes and workshops and one to one therapy services which all contribute to helping us grow.
Last Tuesday evening, with a scolded finger in tow, I made my way there for an evening hosted by travel blogger Julie Falconer who runs a lovely blog called A Lady in London. The talk was attended by a range of people, male and female from a variety of backgrounds. I instantly loved Julie's enthusiasm and her story. After working in finance in San Francisco, she threw caution to the wind, quit her job and moved to London where she now runs a successful travel blog full time. It reads like the dream blog story!
The purpose of the talk was to identify our passions and walk away with the tools needed to turn them into a career. Our first exercise was to identify our passions. Sounds easy enough but I found it interesting how we naturally associate our passions with our work and professional life. Having to think about what I loved within my personal life created a very mixed bag; traveling, identifying and helping people, animals and homeware all made the list. I've got a solid idea of what my passion is already though. It's this blog.
However, Julie managed to pry out my innermost fears about pursuing this full time. If I'm honest, I'm concerned about the competition. Had I started years ago when blogs weren't as common as they are now then this class may not have been necessary for me but I still thought it was worth going to see what kind of guidance and advice Julie could shed. Our fears do a lot to us and it's only when you sit down and think about them do you realise just how many we have. One thought that flashed across my mind was 'what if my writing isn't good enough?' - I know a bunch of people would scream at me and ask what on earth am I talking about (these are obviously friends and family) but I do have a valid point. There are so many awesome writers out there - and this can be intimidating at times.
Anyway, I'm deviating. Falconer navigated us through this topic by thinking about other aspects we may need to consider like envisioning what we would like our career to look like and thinking about funding and business plans.
Remember, not everyone wants to blog full time, so I liked that she came to this talk with advice that would satisfy a variety of passions and potential career options. Though advice wasn't tailored specifically for bloggers, that's not to say I didn't enjoy this talk. It helped me identify fears that I had been suppressing and if anything, I'll walk away determined to shed them.
The School of Life not only offers classes in helping you professionally, but they also host some interesting classes that can help you personally and emotionally. I'd definitely recommend checking them out and booking early if you see a class or workshop you like the look of - places go fast.
