You hear it everywhere: follow your passion! It sounds uplifting and even liberating. But let’s take a step back to identify the reality. There are pitfalls to consider when it comes to making passion-driven decisions. Let’s say you’re deeply passionate about an ultra-niche topic. You dream of writing books about it, quitting your job, and earning a living solely from your work in this specialised area. The Creator archetype in you enthusiastically encourages you: Go for it! Follow your dream!

But.

Is that in fact good advice? Is this what your soul needs? Have you shared this idea with your true Self, which is sacred? Have you entered into the energy of your Sacred Self to individually dialogue with each of your personal archetypes for their input on this move, given they will be tagging along?

Now then, let me add yet another layer to this: If you’re someone who deeply values financial security, then your passion-driven leap into full-time writing could become a source of constant mental, emotional and financial stress. Why? Because your niche topic may not have a large enough audience to support you financially, at least not immediately, and not without doing your market research in this area, first. In this case, following your passion will mean that sure, your Creator’s passion is fulfilled, but if one of your core values is financial security, then this value will end up being violated. It’s a recipe for anxiety, doubt, and probably failure.

If financial security isn’t a major concern for you, or you have the ability to sustain yourself with enough savings while building your new career, then following your passion might be a viable path. But if financial security is either one of your soul’s values or a survival need, then passion alone won’t be enough. You would need to consider:

• The financial realities of your chosen path.
• The timeline required to generate income from your work.
• How well your decision aligns with your each of your soul’s values.

Your Sacred Self not your cheerleader for passion-driven pursuits. Your Sacred Self will help you make informed, soul valued decisions. That means digging into the practical realities of everyday life. So before you jump headfirst into your passion, leap into your Sacred Self instead. From there, consult every single one of your personal archetypes by asking: Is this truly the right decision for me, not just in theory, but in practice? Consult each archetype by either going through an Archetype Profile Process, or Self-authoring them one at a time, because sometimes, following your passion is a nice idea, but not the best way forward.