Passion and Living

With our government edging closer to defaulting on our nation's debt, I am not even going to consider talking about it.  There is not much more that can be said that hasn't already.  We elected idiots into office and now they are going to screw us royally it seems like.  So in this time of seemingly national calamity, I would much rather talk about the individuals that make up this country and for that matter every country.  Before we go any farther, I want everyone to stop reading for a minute and think about what their passion is.  What do you love to do?  What drives you in life?  What makes you who you are and gives you the strength to go to work each day and live?   While everyone is thinking, I will play some elevator music... (dum de dum dum dum, la de da).  OK, enough with the elevator music.  Who was actually able to figure out in that short time what you are passionate about?  Some may have thought about it before, others might have simply never thought about it and as such had a harder time coming up with their "passion" in life.  So what is the big deal about passion.  I believe that passion separates those who grab life by the horns and make it their own versus those who simply let the horns live their life for them.  I am sure that almost everyone reading this knows to a certain extent what I am talking about.  In your everyday life, you run across hundreds of people, most who you don't know, who either have passion or they don't.   You can see the passion in their faces or you can see the lack of it.  Those who lack passion, for me, are the people who physically drain me just by being around them.  There is a certain substance that is lacking from their being which seems to suck the life dry from everything around them.  There are many reasons for this, but I feel the biggest reason is that they never figure out who they are and what they are actually doing with their life.   I feel that figuring out who we are is, for many of us, an endless struggle that changes day to day and year to year.  A passion that drove you a year or even ten years ago may not be the same passion that drives you today.   But if we stop trying to figure out who we are and what drives us, we inevitably succumb to life and become one of the people who sucks life from any room they enter. 

Can we live a life without passion?  Definitely, there are millions of people who live life without passion and for them, they may not consider it a bad life.  But I think that to a certain extent, those who do not try to figure out themselves and what they are passionate about always have doubts, regrets, or simply an empty hole within themselves and that after a while they become unaware of it and for some turns into depression.  Life begs us to live it to the fullest, to find our passion and follow it wherever it may lead.  This is not always an easy task as we are ever changing human beings that never truly remain the same.  Sometimes, following our passion may require making drastic changes in our life that in and of themselves may be difficult.  If we can figure out how to make those changes however, persevere, and come out on the other side, the fulfillment we  feel will exceed any struggle we went through to get there.  So what am I passionate about?  (Not that it matters to many, but it may offer insight to some, so I figured I would share).  Family aside which I love and would go to the ends of the world to protect, my passions are always in flux and I find myself constantly re-examining myself to see where it is I need to go in life.  One of the things I am passionate about and always have been is writing.  Ever since I was a teenager, writing has been a part of my life, whether it was fiction, poetry, or the type of writing I am doing on this blog.  In order to fulfill this passion, I had to put certain things aside to make time to write.  So how do I fit it in?  I get up at 4 in the morning, take the dogs on a walk, and start writing here, at first commenting on world issues and news topics and now it seems, tweaking it slightly.  Normally it takes me 45 minutes to an hour to write each piece you see here, all that before I go to work for the day.  But that is only part of my passion.  I do not make money doing this, I simply write and share with whoever wishes to read it.  But what about the rest of my life.   I am currently losing passion for my job, a self employed painting contractor, not because I don't enjoy painting anymore, but because I would much rather paint on my terms than someone else's and perhaps the biggest reason is that for the majority of the day, I stare at walls by myself and have no one to talk to.  The lack of human interaction has become draining for me and before it turns me into one of those people without passion, a change needs to be made.  Where is that leading me?  In the complete opposite direction to be perfectly honest. 

To preface where my passion is leading me, I need to first explain where this passion started from.  A few years ago, I went to a yoga class.  I found that I was actually pretty good at it and truly enjoyed it.  I went to a few more and in an effort to save money, bought a few DVD's so I could practice yoga at home.  It got to the point where I was practicing every day.   Well, if you couldn't figure it out, that is my next move, my new passion; to become a yoga instructor.   So what about the business I built from the ground up over six years and saw growth throughout every year despite the economy?  I don't know yet.  If I can figure out a way to find someone as good as painting as I am, then perhaps I will keep the business going.   If not, I am not tied to it and would have no problems moving on, either keeping it on the sidelines for small jobs here and there, selling it, or even closing it.  That is my passion.   What is yours?  Are you still happy where you are in life or is there some pull within you that is telling you to explore other options?  If you feel any pull whatsoever, don't ignore it, but rather dig deep within yourself to see what it is that is nagging you, pushing you, or trying to make you aware of a desire within yourself for something other than what you are doing.  Change is often looked upon by many people with fear and trepidation.  There are questions about what is on the other side or how it will work out.   Others will question your motives and decisions, sometimes even telling you that it will not work.  When I left college to invest myself fully in my business, I could not even tell you how many people thought it was a stupid move and wouldn't work.  They said a college degree was more important.  To me, my happiness and satisfaction were far more important than getting a piece of paper saying that I learned something.  This is not to say that college was or is not worthwhile.  I learned so much from my time there and do not regret any move I made while there.  I got the most out of my college experience, all five years of it, but in the end, the framed piece of paper was not what I was looking for at the time.  I followed my passion and grew my business.  

Everyone is different.  Some people's passion may not change over the course of their whole life time, other's may change in just a few years.  The most important thing is to be in tune with yourself and your passion and allow it to flourish and guide you through life.  If your passions remains the same, stick with it and follow it.  If not, make the changes necessary to ensure satisfaction and fulfillment within your own life.  I firmly believe that regardless of what the economy or world conflicts may bring, if we find our passion and follow it, we will be successful.  Our passion requires our effort to see it through and needs constant supervision.  We all have it within ourselves to become the best person we could possibly be.  The other part that is necessary is to find those people who can support your decision and stand behind you regardless of what happens.  Even if you can't find those people to support you, while it may be a little more difficult, success will be imminent if you strive for it.  Today, as it is Friday and we are on the cusp of another wonderful weekend, take some time to consider what it is that drives you, what that passion is that resides within you, and see if it is in tune with what your are doing with your life.  If you can't figure it out today, spend some more time tomorrow, and the day after that until you can figure out what that passion is.  Don't let life slip through your hands and let yourself become one of the millions who simply float through life.  Be the captain of your ship and sail it to the ends of the earth.  (OK, so a little corny at the end, but run with it people)  Till Monday, seize the day every day.