It was just a few short years ago that the subject of passion had come up for me. I was having a hard time finding mine. Along with my missing passion, I was also looking for my purpose. And if those two weren’t enough, my mission was missing too. Damn. Damn, Damn. Talk about a wild goose chase that will leave you with just one crooked ass hair on your head.
I had a great business and my family life was okay, but I felt like I was missing out on something. I didn’t know what it was and every self-help book that I read kept telling me to go find my passion. The answer would be found when I found my purpose. They said I needed to have a mission. Listen, my mission at that point was to get up and juggle everything that needs to be done in a day without forgetting where I was supposed to be and to not forget any of my kids at some sports activity or something.
It seemed the more I pursued those things, the further away they were from me. I had no clue how to even begin to find these things. I spent the majority of my time doing everything for everyone else, how the hell was I supposed to have the time or the inclination to even imagine what I was passionate about. I continued meandering around seeking passion, purpose and mission for a while. Questioning, questioning, questioning. One answer would come and seem right, but then it would cancel out one of the others or it all just seemed muddy to me.
Is this really what I want to do with my life? There’s got to be more, but I don’t know what that looks like.
Everything is fine, but I would like more happiness; I just don’t know where to look.
It was so frustrating all the while carrying this feeling of disconnect that I couldn’t explain. Then I started asking, what the hell is wrong with me? Why don’t I know this? Shouldn’t I know this by now?
And then it occurred to me…you’re going to want to write this down, this is a writer-downer…
Passion isn’t something you find…it’s something you do.
Whaaaaaaat?????
All of it…Passion, Purpose, Mission…that’s all something that you do…let me explain.
The moment I let go of chasing the ghost of expectation, is the moment that I could start doing and living those things; rather than expecting them to be something I could find in some dime store bin…like, holy sh*t guys…. look…its passion, I found it!!! Now if I found this here, surely there’s some purpose and mission up in here, let’s keep digging!!!
When I began to live passionately, that’s when I began to feel passion. In my existing biz, I began to become even more passionate about serving my customers. In the relationships within my family, I began to look for what I could appreciate about them more often, even when they were driving me nuts. In my relationship with myself, I renewed my commitment to taking care of me…passionately…thereby discovering things about me that I didn’t even know. I like to nap, who knew? Never napped before, but I’m doing it like a champion now. Just little cat naps but, none the less, listening to my body instead of pushing it to the edge like I usually do.
As soon as I decided to look through the lens of life with passion, things felt lighter. I was living passionately. Not waiting to find passion somewhere. (I hate waiting, don’t you?) Asking myself how I can be more passionate in my daily interactions, changed how I was looking at things.
Being more passionate changed daily, mundane tasks into living in a more passionate way. The second I found myself dreading or resisting a task I would ask; how could I do this more passionately? With all this passion on my side, I began to connect to and explore my options for what my purpose and mission could be. I was open to potential, and potential feels a whole lot better than feeling lost, unclear, and frustrated.
Passion among the missing for you?
Focus on what you can like or love in all that you do, build some gratitude into your day and I promise, passion is not very far from there.