Passion

Google dictionary defines passion as a strong and barely controllable emotion.

Secondary definitions imply that passion is:

• A state or outburst of strong emotion.
• Intense sexual love.
• An intense desire or enthusiasm for something.
• A thing arousing enthusiasm.

All interpretations indicate this concept known as passion is something very powerful and may influence one’s behavior in numerous ways.

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When we’re passionate about something, or with someone that we passionately connect with, our energy is electrifying, our enthusiasm is infectious, time doesn’t seem to exist. We walk with a different stride, we talk in a different tone, we are a different person. We are our truest self.

The trouble with passion is that it’s an emotion and emotions are often fleeting. What we feel strongly about, one day, one week, or year may be completely different in future instances. Another damning truth about passion is that it is pure. It can’t be feigned or replicated. We cannot force passion, it is as organic as anything we can experience. Herein lies the tragedy of passion.

What happens when something we were passionate about for years or decades doesn’t invoke that emotion anymore? What happens when someone we connected with like a magnet, increasingly feels more like a stranger? What happens when we’re so deep into life’s routines and monotony we ‘forget’ what it’s like to even feel passionate about anything?

As a person trying to figure life out every day just like the next person, I simply try my best to allow myself the space to accept the daily blessings of life. Appreciate the time I do spend with others I care for, however infrequent or brief. Pursue interests and opportunities which provide value and some aspects of joy and/or growth. And try to simply stay in the present.

Often, the best things and people enter our lives when we allow ourselves space for them to exist. We can only have that space when we let go of what may be “lost” or nonexistent and embrace what is here and could be.

Maybe what we currently do day-to-day to provide for ourselves and family isn’t something we’re overwhelming passionate about. Maybe the responsibilities of life currently dictate that our passion pursuits have to come second to other aspects of life. It’s OK.

As long as we give ourselves at least a few minutes each day to pursue that which truly sets our soul on fire, regardless of how fleeting or temporary, we’re really living life.

Passion gives life meaning, it makes being alive worth living.

KC