Intrinsic Motivation And Life Purpose

[Mondsee]

I have a clear intrinsic motivation and passion for languages.

I speak 3 fluently, another one fairly well and I'm learning a fifth one right now that I absolutely love. I also give some clases and I enjoy preparing them and doing that... BUT: I don't want to dedicate to languages professionally.

I have always seen languages as a tool for my own benefit, to be able to communicate with many people and understand them and their culture on a deeper level.

Other than languages, I'm having a hard time to find something that I really do everyday out of pure joy. Everyday I do dedicate a couple hours to deliberate practice of languages. It isn't a fun activity, nor is it always easy, but it fulfills me... but what if I'm very clear on my mind that that isn't what I want to dedicate to?

I feel as if I was Tiger Woods saying "I love golf, that's the thing I dedicate most of my time and effort, but I don't want to dedicate professionally to golf, I don't really know what I want to do, but it's not golf".

What should I do?

[aurum]

47 minutes ago, Mondsee said:

BUT: I don't want to dedicate to languages professionally

The first question is: why?

If it's something you love so much that you'd spend hours of your time doing for free, why not also get paid?

I'm not trying to convince you that you should. But this is definitely something I would spend some honest time introspecting on if you haven't already. Maybe ask some friends you trust to weigh in.

[Mondsee]

@aurum I do get paid, I already give some clases... but giving clases is just a means of earning money at this point and becoming financially independent.

In languages I haven't found a genuine interest that will allow me to make a great and noble contribution to the world.

I do think knowing languages will help me as a tool to make a great contribution, but further investigating and studying languages isn't what I want to dedicate my life to.

[aurum]

16 minutes ago, Mondsee said:

I do think knowing languages will help me as a tool to make a great contribution, but further investigating and studying languages isn't what I want to dedicate my life to

That's definitely possible. Sometimes we get pushed into situations that we can't fully understand the larger picture of until later.

I'd say just keep following your passion like you are and keep an open mind to it. There may be a unique way that this ends up helping you in the future.