How I found a new passion in life and YOU CAN TOO

Edmonton Boudoir Photography

Sometimes life takes us in directions we weren’t expecting. Sometimes it takes us right where we want to be. And other times it takes us down a path we never wanted. Good, bad, or just different – each of these changes can mean we need to find a NEW passion in life. In this post, I’ll tell you a bit about MY journey and we’ll look at some ways you can find new life passions after major life changes.

If you don’t wanna read about my journey, just SCROLLLLLL down to find my top 5 tips for discovering a new passion in life.

My journey to boudoir photography

Believe it or not, boudoir photography wasn’t my first career choice. A lot of people are surprised o hear that I’m actually trained in nursing and spent a portion of my young adult life as a nurse in the travel health industry.

“How the heck does nursing lead to boudoir?” you might wonder. And you know what, you wouldn’t be wrong to wonder! It seems like a strange path.

I LOVED my job in nursing. Helping people gave me such a rush of energy, excitement, and happiness. I loved the pace of the job. I loved the feeling that I got from it. It’s safe to say that I was VERY passionate ❤️

But, my nursing job often took me away from home for long periods of time and it wasn’t a sustainable life once I had my kids. Suddenly there were these tiny people who needed to be cared for and who, honestly, I hated to leave for even a moment. It was time to find something new.

I’d always liked photography so I decided to give it a go. Wedding photography was the easiest way to break into the industry, so I set off to capture special moments in people’s lives. It wasn’t quite sparking the joy that nursing had but I liked it and it worked with my schedule.

Before long, I realized that I was falling in love with a VERY PARTICULAR part of the job. It wasn’t capturing the gaze between a new husband and wife. Or shooting a picture of the wedding party all standing in a line under a tree. It was the moments when the bride looked at her images AFTER the wedding and saw just how GORGEOUS she looked. That moment when I saw tears brim in a woman’s eyes and heard her say, “I never thought I could look so good.”

It really hit home, for me, about how many women feel UNHAPPY with their looks, their bodies, themselves. Now, I’m not gonna’ get started about how that reflects on the things we’re taught growing up – that’s for a different post. But I will say that it got me thinking…

If showing women their true beauty was what I loved most about photography, why not focus my photography ONLY on showing women their true beauty?

And that’s how I came to create Gabriela Cruz Boudoir Photography!

Self Portrait Boudoir Image by Gabriela Cruz Photography | boudoir | boudoir poses | boudoir studio

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We all need to find A new passion at some point

Life doesn’t stay the same forever. Some of us have kids and realize it’s time to settle down a bit. And those of us who COULDN’T have kids might have to find a new path in life we weren’t expecting to take.  At some point those of us who DID have kids will see those kids grow up and move away. Some of us get divorced or lose a spouse and realize they need to start over.

I could list a million ways that life can completely rearrange itself – in good ways and bad ways – whether we want it or not.

And, although it might be hard to let go of a past passion, it can be a BEAUTIFUL experience to find a new one. So, let’s look at 5 ways you can re-spark your flame for life and find a new passion.

  1.  Make a list of things you USED to do
  2.  Find passion in the past
  3.  Step as far outside your comfort zone as possible
  4.  Ask your friends about their hobbies and passions
  5.  Join something

Make a list of things you used to do

We all have that list somewhere in the back of our minds. Those things we used to do – used to LOVE – that we just lost time for somehow.

Maybe you got busy with your career.

Or, maybe it was school that pulled you away.

Maybe your life became so wrapped up in taking care of other people that there simply wasn’t any time left for you.

Whatever got in the way, set that aside for now. Maybe it’s still a roadblock, maybe it’s not. Either way, just take a moment to focus on YOU and forget about the rest.

What did you love to do as a child? As a teenager? A young adult?

Here’s a list of things you might have once loved, just to get you started thinking:

  • Sports
  • Writing
  • Making music
  • Going on adventures
  • Spending time outdoors
  • Gardening
  • Making art

Do any of those things still get you feeling excited? Does the idea of getting back into one of these old passions make your heart beat just a little faster? Maybe it’s time to go try them out again and see if they’re still a good fit for you.

Find passion in the past

Make a list of things you said you wanted to do but never tried. I think we all have THIS list to. Things we thought looked cool to do, things we dreamed of trying or doing “in another life.” For a lot of people, it’s owning a business or following an artistic dream. For some, it’s exploring and travelling.

Ask yourself, “What did I dream of when I was younger?”

Heck, ask yourself what you dreamed of last week. Because, whether we realize it or not, we never stop dreaming and wondering, “What if?”

Maybe it’s time to start wondering and actually try it out!

Step as far outside your comfort zone as possible

While stepping outside your comfort zone can have many benefits, one of the biggest ones is that, “Challenging yourself pushes you to dip into and utilize your personal store of untapped knowledge and resources.” By learning these new, hidden things about yourself, you are able to see that your life can be about much more than it is right now. You are capable of many different types of things. You can grow, expand, and move forward with a newfound level of confidence.

How far you’re willing to step outside your comfort zone is up to you. You might be willing to go jump out of an airplane or you might just be willing to try out karaoke (or the idea of karaoke might even be scarier than jumping out of a plane for you).

Ask your friends about their hobbies and passions

You just might want to jump on a bandwagon with a friend! If you do, it might make following your new passion a little easier since you won’t have to go it alone.

At the very least, listening to your friends talk about their passions can inspire you to try something new or get you hyped up about how great it will feel when you start to follow your own.

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Find passion by Joining something

Whether it’s a facebook group (hint hint), an in person group, a yoga class, a painting class, or a volunteer committee, joining something new can help to ignite that spark of passion you’ve been missing.

Consider joining some sort of group surrounding a topic of your interest. Pull out that list you made about things you used to love or always wanted to try. Pick something off that list and see if you can join something related to it.

Or join a cause as a volunteer. There are few things more passionate than following your heart in helping other people.

For a lot of our clients, doing a boudoir photoshoot check off multiple things on this list.

It’s something they’ve wanted to do but never did because they didn’t prioritize themselves.

It’s something they were nervous about and DEFINITELY pushed them outside their comfort zones.

And they even found a community to join in our Facebook group.

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