The motivational speaker and barefoot water skier shares stories of people–including herself–who found the courage to follow their passions. For years Karen Putz worked a sales job she neither loved nor hated. She liked the company and her boss, yet something essential was missing: passion. So she set out to learn from people who were madly in love with their work and their lives. Here, Karen … lives. Here, Karen tells the inspiring stories of individuals who discovered their true passion, purpose, and desire. And she begins with her own story of going deaf from a barefoot water-skiing accident only to rediscover her passion for the sport at age forty-four.
Everyone is given a unique gift in life–but too many of us never unwrap the package. Unwrapping Your Passion is your guide to shaking up the status quo and getting down to the essence of who you are, what you love, and the passion that will drive your life forward.
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Do something! Unwrap YOUR passion!
This book is really helping me because I’m in the middle of pursuing my dream but it’s really scary. Often, I feel like I’m making a fool of myself, especially on social media (I’m such a private and shy person). Putting myself out there feels like I’m completely exposed and I want to give up when those negative feelings of inadequacy come in, or if things get too uncomfortable. But this is what I wrote in my diary after reading a little bit of Unwrapping Your Passion:
“Recently, I’ve been reading a book and it’s helping me get very clear on my vision of success. It’s strengthening me for my dream journey and helping me hone in on my goal, like, I suddenly became an airplane and I’m just FLYING towards my dream. I became super focused and my energy is collected. It helped me shed off the parts that are weighing me down, and now, I’m just zipping ahead. I feel amazing! Just gotta keep going.”
This book gave me hope that I’ll succeed because I have passion which means I’ll weather through any suffering or difficulty. That’s exactly how Karen defines passion. It’s what you’re willing to suffer and brave obstacles for. That’s a perspective I never thought of before. Most people describe passion only as the thing which you feel great excitement for. But they don’t necessarily mention the suffering part. I found that definition to be very interesting. Unwrapping Your Passion was just such an inspiring read overall. The energy is really catching.
I read this book during my pockets of free time; through my nap, while cooking oatmeal, while waiting for the baby to burp and etc. I enjoyed her humor and her lighthearted way of writing. She’s so amusing and the book was hard to put down. Oh yeah, I even read it at 5 in the morning (and I am NOT a morning person!)
The quotes are amazing. I’m big on quotes, but a lot of these I hadn’t heard before. I wanted to highlight the whole book! For that reason alone, this book is a treasure.
I like the bit where she addressed perfection. It was very relatable.
During my read, I felt that the author and I share many similarities.
I loved the story of Michael who inspired his parents to live their dreams. How beautiful.
I started adding more crazy things to my bucket list, expanded my vision to include more outrageous goals because as Karen taught, we shouldn’t worry about the HOW. Just focus on what we want.
I like how she addressed fear and talked about her fear of alligators. Fear is a big part of my journey towards success and it helped to see her example in action.
It amazed me that the author was writing part of the book on an airplane. Wow, that takes a lot of discipline! Traveling is tiring.
I really like Bill’s story and the story about the author’s daughter performing for Broadway.
There are some amazing interviews with really good content. Their energy felt so powerful and really carried me.
I like the “lollipop moment” reference.
And here are a few (or a lot) of my favorite quotes:
“I could continue to struggle, mourn, and grieve, or I could change my attitude and become the best possible deaf person I could be.”
At the end of our life, we will ask ourselves three questions, “Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter?” what if we asked ourselves those questions now
One way to look at it is to see passion as the soul on fire. The deep burning within to do the thing you were born to do.
There is a lot of suffering and misery and hatred in the world and you have the power in your own way to change that by taking a stance and saying, “I’m gonna live a life that I love. I’m gonna live a life that’s meaningful, that’s gonna make a difference.”
That’s exactly how Jessica explains passion: it is your soul coming alive.
Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish. -Jean de la Fontaine
And the awe that comes with accomplishing something you’ve worked for, sweated for, and passionately aimed for? Priceless.
Passion is a really strong energy- people will feel it.
Passionate people are willing to fail. They are persistent and, sometimes, relentless.
Chase down your passion like it’s the last bus of the night. -Terri Guillemets
When you envision the future, whom are you with? What are you doing in the future? What do you have? What have you accomplished? How do others see you?
That passion is inside of us- that thing that keeps us fighting, keeps us living- we constantly have to be on that diving board bouncing, because some day we will make that splash, that BIG splash.
Trust the journey.
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. -Oscar Wilde
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.-Frederick Buechner
Without clarity, we tend to drift through life until one day, we have no more life to drift through.
You step way, way, way out of your comfort zone when you live on the edge.
The cave we fear to enter has the treasure we seek.-Joseph Campbell
If you follow your passion, the reward will come.
A few things you won’t say at the end of your life: all those arguments I won against my spouse were really worth it. I’m glad I kept the entire china set so sparkling new by never using it.
Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from. -Seth Godin
Every expert on earth has started out as a beginner. I often tell people, “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s ten-year process.
The messy middle is where many people give up, but for those who stay the course, the middle brings you to the triumphant place in your journey where you see all the pieces fitting together.
To the degree that you feel negative emotions, that is the degree you are out of alignment.
When you take one step toward the universe, the universe takes nine toward you. -Oprah
There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. -Nelson Mandela
We’ve made leadership about changing the world, and there is no world; there are only six billion understandings of it. and if you change one person’s understanding of it, one person’s understanding of what they’re capable of, one person’s understanding of how much people care about them, one person’s understanding of how powerful an agent of change they can be in this world, you’ve changed the whole thing.