What's Your Passion?
By Sharron Stockhausen, MMA
At one time or another, many of us received suggestions on what we should do for our life’s work. The most generic advice told us to follow our passion. It sounded good, but it wasn’t helpful for me. Especially since I didn’t know what my passion was nor how to discover it.
Passion is a strong word that means having a powerful appetite or boundless enthusiasm for something.
After years of stewing over not knowing where my passion resided, I quit looking. As many of you can attest, when you stopped trying so hard, you began to make real progress. When I quit trying to figure out why I occupied space on this planet, I began to let go and enjoy life.
I ignored the scripts of my youth that said I couldn’t do things because of my gender or my family name. I noticed other people struggling to rewrite their life scripts too.
Soon I stood in front of audiences and shared information on how they could take control of their lives. Eventually I began writing so I could reach those who couldn’t come to my seminars and workshops.
My life was going pretty well, but I still didn’t know what my passion was. I looked for answers in many places. I volunteered in church and community. I began teaching continuing education classes. I was elected to various board positions. I dropped some memberships, not because the organizations were bad, but because my interests changed.
Each step, I thought, brought me closer to figuring out my passion. I learned which things attracted me and which ones I’d pass. I found that I eagerly worked on things I enjoyed and procrastinated on things I didn’t. In other words, I was pretty normal.
Then I had an eureka moment. As a student in the ump-teenth writing class I’d taken, I told another student that I’d almost given up figuring out what my passion was. I just wanted to move on.
She smiled, then asked me, “What would you do for nothing?” I didn’t respond because I didn’t know.
So she asked, “What do you enjoy doing?” That was easy. I told her I loved reading.
She followed up with, “What do you read?” I told her about some of the books (fiction and nonfiction) I owned or borrowed.
“So, you like words, do you?” she asked. (Remember we were in a writing class, so she already knew I liked writing). Without thinking, I broke into a smile, felt my face flush, my eyes get big, and my breathing pace increase. I responded with great excitement, “Oh, yes! When I’m not reading or writing, I’m thinking about it.”
Eureka! I’d hardly closed my mouth, when it hit me. I finally realized that I hadn’t been able to find my passion because it wasn’t lost. I’d been living it for years!
What about you? What’s your passion? What do you do? What do you think about?
The cliché says we can’t see the forest for the trees. How close are you to what you’re looking for? Perhaps, like me, you’re so close to your own passion that you can’t see it.
Life contains many things we miss if we aren’t looking. Give yourself permission to do something that arouses your passion. I’m confident you—and those around you—will be the better for it.
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