Zoom Autism Magazine Issue 7 | Page 38

BALANCE NEW APP FOR AUTISM The 5 P’s to Finding Your Passion T his issue talks a lot about doing what you love and pursuing your passion. That’s all fine and dandy … if you know what you are passionate about. Whether you are the one who feels stuck or you are trying to help your child discover his place in the world, the following tips are great to keep in mind when beginning your journey. Perspective Matters If you are convinced that finding your passion is just a fool’s dream, guess what? It will never happen. Instead, choose to embrace a perspective that EVERYTHING is possible … because it is. Surround yourself with people who are following their own passions. Don’t have many of those people in your circle of friends? Then it’s time to expand that circle! GIVING CHILDREN THE TOOLS TO COMMUNICATE Designed to Build: Receptive, Generalization and Communication Skills using “Real Life” images with over 20 different categories customized to your child. Parents, Teachers and Therapists can select over 1,100 items/objects by FEATURE/FUNCTION/CLASS “Our App Inspires Language for the Voiceless” Talisha Sachlis & Dezira Dewhurst WWW.COMMUNICATIONTOOLBOX.ORG Pay Attention Once you have the perspective that anything IS possible, it’s time to take a closer look inside your pot of possibilities. Start by asking a few questions: What makes you or your child smile? What do you love talking and learning about? What are you drawn to time and time again? Don’t try to figure out how you can make something delicious out of all these different ingredients. Eventually you will find a recipe that uses all of the contents. Play the Field How do you know you will like something unless you try it? Something that starts out as a hobby could be the exact thing that leads to a passionate career … or not, but you will never know unless you try. Sometimes just being exposed to something new can fuel your imagination about something else. For example, did you know that Steve Jobs birthed the idea for APPLE while taking a calligraphy class? Even if they did, for some people, once their passions become their jobs, it can easily go from an “I love to do this” to a dreaded “I have to do this,” thus zapping everything that excited them about the pursuit to begin with. Just because you are passionate about something doesn’t mean you won’t have to do some things you don’t like if you do choose to pursue it as a career. A person who is passionate about drawing may love the actual act of designing a new logo but hate the business side of having to write out contracts and interact with clients. This person may need to find someone else to help deal with the administrative and accounting side of the business so that they can concentrate on the creative side. This, of course, is an extra expense that would need to be kept in mind when considering whether or not turning the love of art and design into a profitable business is feasible. Push Panic Aside While on your journey to find your own passion, or help your child find his, you are undoubtedly going to be faced with some fear. Push the panic aside and redirect it. Instead of saying “What if I fail?” say “What if I succeed?” Instead of saying “I don’t know if I can do this,” say “Let’s do this!” No matter how prepared you think you are, taking a leap of faith is tough, but you will never know how nice the water is if you never go further than dipping your toes in. Passion and Profit Do Not Always Go Together 38 ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses Now Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com and at any book seller upon request Not all passions in life will lead to an income. ZOOM Autism through Many Lenses 39