I was inspired to write this article after listening to this wonderful talk by famous author Elizabeth Gilbert. Elizabeth is the author of the famous 2006 book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ which remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for about 200 weeks. There was also a movie of the same name based on this book in 2010, which grossed up revenues of more than US$ 200 million.

Elizabeth came from very humble beginnings and she grew up on a small Christmas tree farm with practically no neighbors, no television, and no record player. The favorite pastime, therefore, for the family was to read books. This love for reading led Elizabeth and her sister to start writing short stories and plays. After she graduated, she worked as a cook, a waitress, and a magazine employee to make ends meet.

Though she kept writing short stories and books while she worked, life was not easy. To get her work published, she approached various publishers, but for 6 years she only got rejection letters before her first writing was published.

In her talk, she highlights that it was only her passion for writing that kept her going despite all the rejections and the life being tough. Pursuing our passion is the most important pursuit that we should have in our lives. She considers her passion as her ‘home’ and the pursuit to passion should be so strong that despite the odds, despite the rejections, despite the world seeming against us, we need to keep returning to our ‘home’ each day. This is not the physical home built of a concrete structure where we physically live but ‘the home, where our heart is’.

The pursuit of passion would sometimes bring successes and mostly bring defeats and both the events would take you to situations significantly away from the normal that you are used to. Successes bring happiness and accolades and are generally considered good and have society’s approval. Conversely, the failures are considered bad and may push you into sometimes-difficult stages of disappointments, stress, and even deep depressions. Both the situations, since they are not the ‘norm’ that we are used to are short lived. Successes and failures, both are not everlasting. We all know that ‘nothing fails like success’ and ‘creativity survives failures’. To lead our normal lives, we do need to return to normal. We do need to return to our homes, to our passion.

Each one of us has our own ‘home’, which either you may have already found or may be still searching. You will come to know when you find it. Keep searching until you find your ‘home’. Your passion does not have to be something big or something earth-shattering. Your passion may not be something essentially requiring society’s approval. It may be anything, which is close to your heart.

In the wonderful words of Steve Jobs, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

So keep on asking yourself until you have the answer, “Have I Found My Home Yet?”

Happy reading

– Nalin Chandna