Forget “follow your bliss.” Follow the thing that won’t leave you alone.
There are a million ideas out there about what to do with your life.
Your parents have one. So do your friends, your boss, your culture. They’ll tell you what’s smart. What’s responsible. What’s impressive.
But if you want a compass that points to something truly yours, try this one: follow your fascination.
Fascination is Personal
Fascination is different from passion. It’s different from purpose. It’s quieter than bliss. It’s the thing that intrigues you—sometimes deeply, sometimes just enough to make you lean forward. It’s the open question you keep coming back to. The thing you want to understand, even if you’re not good at it yet.
If you follow your fascination, you’re following your own path—because no one else’s curiosity looks quite like yours.
Why Not “Follow Your Bliss”?
Joseph Campbell famously said to “follow your bliss.” I get the spirit of that—but bliss isn’t always the best guide. Real growth is frustrating. Building anything worthwhile is hard. Bliss disappears in the hard parts.
And that’s okay.
Because fascination doesn’t depend on feeling good all the time. You can be exhausted, bored, overwhelmed—and still fascinated. Still pulled forward by something deeper.
You Learn Who You Are by What You Follow
You don’t find yourself by sitting still and thinking. You find yourself by doing—by experimenting, stumbling, and noticing what keeps pulling you in.
Don’t know where to start? Try stuff. Reality will tell you what’s dead air and what’s alive.
The moment you move toward what fascinates you, you start becoming more you. Your identity becomes something you shape, not something you inherit or are pressured into.
You’re Allowed to Change
Here’s the other beautiful thing: your fascinations are allowed to change. In fact, they should. If something once lit you up but no longer does, that’s not failure—that’s growth.
Some fascinations fade. Others deepen. Especially when you’re building or creating something, you keep drawing new connections—and that keeps the curiosity alive.
You’re not here to play one role forever. You’re here to explore this life while you have it.
Watch for the Traps
People will try to talk you out of your fascinations. They’ll say:
“You should be a lawyer.”
“You’re wasting your talent.”
“You were always so good at ___.”
But you’re not here to serve your skills. You’re here to serve your soul.
You don’t exist to make good use of what you’re naturally gifted at. You exist to live a life that’s yours. That’s fascinating to you.
You don’t owe anything to your talents. You owe something to your chance to experience life.
The Payoff
When you follow your fascination, you don’t always get validation. But you do get something else: alignment. A quiet sense that you’re on the right path—even when you don’t know where it leads.
You stop asking: “Am I doing the right thing?”
You start knowing: “This is what I’m most curious about right now. And that’s enough.”
You might not get a trophy for it. But you’ll get something better: a fully explored life. A life that was yours. A life without regrets.
And to me, that’s a life beautifully lived.
→ Want more?
You can watch the short video version of this reflection here.
To learn more about Life Savor’s philosophy,
read Life Savor: Treasuring Our Gift of Life by Erik Victor Reed.
