Take the time to find your passion

Photo of Cyandra Younger
Photo Submitted by Cyandra Younger

“Everyone was born with a passion, we all just find it at different times of our lives,” is a quote I keep telling myself since I was a freshman in college.

I’m twenty – three and by now, I thought I would know what my passion is, graduated from college and obtain a career of my choice making at least $70,000 a year. But, that did not happen. I work a part time job, I graduate in May, and I just found my passion about a year and a half ago. The crazy part of this story is my passion is something I have been doing since 7th grade.

In my free time in 8th grade, I would create photos for myself and my peers would ask for me to make them a design. My mom also asked me to make her a design, and the list of requests increased.

Heading into my senior year of high school, right before I attended Florida A&M University, my god-father asked me, “are you sure you want to go into business administration? You are always doing design projects for everyone, maybe you should go into graphic communications?” I told him no, I did not like it. To me, it was a hobby and who makes money off of art? That was a younger and ignorant version of me speaking.

But being 21, at the time, and stuck trying to find my passion, I began to ask around to see how other individuals knew what their passion was and how they found it. I decided to ask my roommate at the time, Haile Robertson, FAMU Class of 2018 Occupation Therapy graduate,  how did she find her passion and how did she know that was her passion.

I knew healthcare was my passion because as I grew up I was always the first to volunteer to help people. Whether it be carrying groceries, cleaning up the house, cooking for people, and always making sure everyone was okay,” says Robertson.

“As I got older, I realized that there was a profession in caring for people. I began to hone in on my love for science and realized that healthcare was for me. Throughout college, I often found myself trying to choose a major that would offer me the job with the most money. I became very unhappy and bored with the decisions I was making.”

“Eventually, I went back to my childhood passion to care for people and found the perfect major, Allied Health. I dove into my studies and grew a deep passion and love for helping people be well and healthy and always creating or researching alternative and holistic ways to make people feel better. After college, I was blessed with a career in the healthcare field where I assist people with understanding their healthcare benefits, assisting them with the best ways to obtain quality care, and overall helping people stay healthy.”

Speaking to my former roommate was very refreshing. I started searching testimonies and stories on how individuals found their passion online.

I soon then began to realize that, for most individuals, their passion was their hobby, something they were eager to get to. After hard and long thinking, I then realized that graphic communications was my passion. Whenever a friend or family member needed a graphic done, I was the first one to volunteer to make the graphic for them. I am that same person today.

I’ve had five internships and my favorite one is the one I am currently interning at, the Sustainability Institute as the graphic communications chair. I have never had a job where I was eager to get to work so I can start my next project or finish my current project. Holding this internship opportunity has me eager and ready for my future career as a graphic communicator.

I applied to two graphics schools, the University of Central Florida and Full Sail University. I was accepted to both schools for the fall 2019 semester. I decided to attend University of Central Florida after I graduate from FAMU. I then plan to do graphic communications for Disney products such as Marvel or Cartoon Network. I have also even thought about being a freelancer.

Life takes on many twists, turns and loops when trying to find your passion. For some, they find theirs out before they enter an important part of their life, such as college, and for others, they find out during college or after. As long as you're following your passion, I believe your future will truly start to make sense. Do what you love and everything will fall into place.