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Chicago Gifted Community Center

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Finding Your Passion In A Pandemic

September 18, 2020 12:10 PM | Pamela Shaw (Administrator)

The following guest blog post is from CGCC professional member, Dr. Michelle Navarro, M.A., Psy.D. of the Long Grove Center...


Finding Your Passion In A Pandemic

I often remind myself that obstacles in life are gifts of opportunity for learning and developing and enhancing one’s skill. No other time in my life has this been more crucial. As a psychologist during a pandemic, the “collective trauma” we all have experienced and continue to experience is nothing I have ever been trained for or seen in my over 27 years of practice. Yet, the creativity, kindness, and resilience I have seen in people has sparked a renewed sense of why I do what I do.

This passion or love that I have for my work is something I am often asked how to find. Parents fear their child does not know what they want to do at 20 years of age or their young child does not have a hobby or interest in any one thing. But passion is not always static; for most of us it is changing over time. Passion is sparked off of life experience, some good, some traumatic, and exposure and boredom. Boredom? Yes, boredom. Something many of us have been missing until recently. True downtime with no structured activity allows the brain to try to fill the time with imagination, original ideas and building new pathways to solve our current dilemma of lack of connectivity and loss of control. 

Be kind to yourself, allow for openness and flexibility, and always be willing to try and fail. Sometimes a passion is just the process of being curious about life.

Remember that feeling safe to try and fail is an indispensable gift for children and adults and is the pathway to self-confidence and leadership. Allow struggle, risk, failure, and self-adjustment and you will also welcome accomplishment and growth.

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain."

-Unknown

About cgcc

The Chicago Gifted Community Center (CGCC) is a member-driven 501(c)(3) non-profit organization created by parents to support the intellectual and emotional growth of gifted children and their families. 

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