I had passions before COVID-19. I loved football, tennis, sport in general, writing, and giving advice to people. But about two months ago, during one of the first days of May 2020, I developed a new passion, and it hasn’t gone away ever since.
While I’ve always been into epic fantasy films and dramas like The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Harry Potter (totally not a nerd), it wasn’t until those first few days into May that I even considered making a hobby out of it, let alone a career.
I’d thought of writing blog posts about it, but it didn’t really excite me enough to bother with it. That was until I was sitting there daydreaming, while watching The Lord of the Rings, and the idea came to me. I knew I loved writing, and I knew I loved fantasy, so I just thought, hold on, why don’t I write my own fantasy novel?
The films and shows I mentioned before all started out as novels anyway, other than Star Wars. Not to mention that they’re some of the best selling book series of all time.
I’m often criticized for being a daydreamer, but this was a rare time in my life when it actually came in handy! So what am I suggesting? Daydream, and you’ll find a new passion?
Well, I would recommend trying it actually. While I say was ‘daydreaming’, I knew I was looking for some new project to work on, so I think I was subconsciously looking out for something new. If you’re worrying about finding something you’re passionate about, I’m sure you’ll find it eventually, with some common sense.
I just thought, what am I good at, and do I like doing? Well, I know I’m a decent writer, and I’m pretty much obsessed with fantasy, so I guess I just thought, well, I may as well combine the two.
I was thinking inside the box too much before. I would think about normal careers like finance, and just be frustrated that I didn’t find it very interesting. So I would suggest thinking outside the box. Nobody ever recommended writing novels to me. It was something I had to figure out for myself.
The great thing is that writing this novel has lead me to a new career path as well, which fits perfectly with my newfound hobby. I started to think, well, how do I get my book published? Hopefully it’s good enough, for a start. But who actually publishes these books? Book publishers, as I found out. Then I said to myself, well, I could become an editor at one of those.
Not only would I enjoy reading new books sent in by authors, but it would give me valuable contacts that would give me a better chance of getting my own novels published.
Until now, I’d also forgotten that it’s given me a new passion for reading novels as well. I hadn’t read a book in about five years since I started writing them…
And it all started because I was daydreaming whilst watching The Lord of the Rings. The best things in life really do come in the strangest of places.
So, what are you supposed to do? Start daydreaming whilst watching shows you like? Maybe. But what I’m really saying is that it can be good to consider things you really enjoy for a new passion, project, hobby, or even a career. Don’t limit yourself to what’s normal, or what your parents tell you to do with your life. It’s your life, not theirs.
You might just think of something you had never even considered before.
Want to see more from Ryan? Check out his blog at ryanarobinson.com.
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