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Passion has little to do with fun.

Passion should not be mistaken for fun, or “doing what you love”. It is an entirely different concept that is well worth looking into. I think this common misconception may be the reason so few find their passion, and therefore even fewer still live them.

Let’s start with the definition, and the etymology of the word passion :

Etymology: being acted upon, from Latin pati, to suffer. It has since evolved to objects of desire or deep interest, but continues to suggest ungovernability (being a slave to one’s passions).

Ancient meaning of words can teach us a lot. In this case it reminds us that passion has the upper hand. When it gets a hold, it controls us. And it isn’t always kind. Fun has little to do with it. Pain and abnegation do.

Of course there is more to it than that. If passion was just suffering, who would want it?

Passion is kindled by results.

Passion develops when progress is made. The first time you practice an activity with flow, or an unusual ease, grace and precision that you can’t explain, you might just have found a passion in the making. Before this first epiphany, you are learning the ropes, and there is little pleasure in that. The period of time it takes to experience it is when it is most likely that you will quit. That may be because that activity isn’t suited for you, or that you haven’t given it enough time.

That first epiphany may motivate you enough to continue searching, longing for another. You learn and practice more. Interest becomes passion. Gradually. Sometimes slowly.

Passionate writers sweat blood from their foreheads. They don’t want to sit down and write, but with experience, and the first experiences of flow, feel compelled to do so.

Passionate athletes (not necessarily professional) endure pain and injury. They don’t feel like training daily, or taking a train to show up at a competition.

Passion is Motivated by Purpose.

Passion may be for harmony, or beauty, or teaching, or being of service… Since it is driven by purpose, it has little to do with the type of activity, or the tools you use to accomplish it. Passionate musicians therefore often play more than one instrument. Passionate teachers have a teaching position, but also write books and essays, as well as conduct research, run a website and hold seminars. Passionate artists driven by a quest for beauty aren’t just painters, but sometimes also sculptors. Passion for service is achieved by some through volontary work,  while others will prefer business with a focus on employment and better working conditions.

Some choose just one means of achieving their passion’s purpose, but could very well have chosen another.

The passion’s purpose is rarely conscious. It sometimes reveals itself with time. It may help to try to analyze why you are passionate about something, or just add to the confusion…

One Passion, or Several?

Passion being about purpose much more than it is about a specific activity, there are oftentimes more ways than one to fulfill them. Many passionate musicians master several musical instruments. Many industry leaders develop trades in different markets.

And when you hit a roadblock with one, the answer can simply be to switch to another, and leave yourself time to work out the solution for the first. As long as you don’t stray too far (forget all about it) you may find that the answer is there just waiting for you when you come back to it.

This past article explores the subconscious resolution of problems.

You may also simply have found an original way to deal with it while exercising the other one.

Peregrine's Song - 118 scripts, 372 image files, 13 MB. Many sleepless nights (with work the next day).

Why the heck did I spend nights creating this? I still have no idea. I just had to. But the hours of flow came at the cost of more hours still of gritted frustration.

Why 20 years of karate? For the few times that felt like flying, and despite injury and suffocation.

Why this blog? Or the others? Same answer.

Maybe I’ll see it all come to a logical conclusion someday.

Ask Nico Di Mattia why the painting…

Or any engaged actor, politician, artist, humanitarian, or even a person that lives a seemingly normal job with passion and they may or may not be really able to explain why. But they will almost always tell you it isn’t all fun and games. Especially in the early, learning stages.

Finding Your Passion is Selfish… And Selfless.

Passion attracts your focus in such a way that it distracts you, or sometimes totally takes your attention away from anything else. Namely others. Family, friends, duties of all sorts become secondary at best. In this sense living your passion is a selfish act. It can keep you away from home, make you inefficient at work (given your work and passion are not one and the same).

Yet passion aims at a greater good. It could care less about marketing and sales. It is driven by a purpose, and that purpose isn’t about your interests (but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are incompatible).

Passion requires specific abilities, strengths, instinct and talent.

Not everyone can develop a passion for music. It requires an ear and sensitivity. It requires physical attributes (hand morphology is crucial to play the piano or the violin). You do not choose your passion. You find it, and to find it, you need to experience that first epiphany. It isn’t going to happen if you have no talent for the discipline in question, so that practice does not lead to a passion. If you find yourself completely unable to make progress, then you’ve probably taken the wrong road.

Instinct can give indications of which activity to choose. Your instincts. Not someone else’s. If you sense early on that with practice you can achieve a “eureka” moment then you are on the right track. If not you may not have tried enough, or you may have tried something that isn’t for you.

Passion doesn’t provide energy, it requires it. Lots of it.

Passion will drain you of your energy. It will keep you up at night. It will have your mind reeling in search of ways to accomplish itself. That may lead you to believe that it energizes you. But it does not provide that energy. Passion takes control of you, and forces you to feed it. 

That energy needs to be there in the first place. Strength helps.

Passion wears you out, and when comes the time when you have no energy left to give it, you may think you’ve simply lost interest or decide to take a break. If that break becomes permanent, it may be that you’ve given up before achieving your passion’s purpose.

After recovery you may be reluctant to relive the same experience that you mistook for a mistake or a failure and try a new one. You find another that sparks interest and decide to test this one to see if it carries you longer. It may be a different way to achieve the same purpose. And it will only carry you longer if it is also a passion, if you have completely recovered from the previous, and have more energy to give it.

But it may also be that you have achieved your passion’s purpose, and that that purpose was only the first step towards achieving a larger one. You may have learned something essential from that experience that you will need to take the next step.

Passion Requires Problem Solving, Conscious or Not.

You may hit a roadblock. You cannot figure out how to make further progress. And the harder you try, the more steps you take… backwards. So you may quit, and with time forget. Perhaps you should have just taken a break, put the problem in the back of your head but be prepared to come back to it, letting your subconscious figure it out. Because it does that. My past article on productivity block goes into more detail on this point.

Losing interest in an activity doesn’t necessarily mean that activity was a mistake. Sometimes quiting is a mistake because burnout is mistaken for loss of interest.  One of the aspects of The Concert that makes it a compelling film is that it shows that a passion may be set aside for thirty years, and still be there waiting for you.

But quiting isn’t necessarily a mistake. The purpose may be accomplished so that a new, larger one may be undertaken. Or the choice may simply have been a poor one.

Life isn’t simple after all.

Passion is scary.

You instinctively know a passion will take you for a rough ride. This is why finding your passion is not about “trying new things”, but going for things that both attract you and take you out of your comfort zone until sufficient progress has been made.

Passion isn’t necessarily about time spent on an activity either.

Many think they have a passion for video games or movies. Sometimes they do, when those games and films have a purpose. It may lead them to creating their own, or practice leadership by creating and managing MMORPG guilds, or develop the sensitivity they will need to learn to act, or other purposes still. But for many others those passtimes are in fact addictions that allow them to escape reality.

None can judge from the outside.

Passion is Insane.

At least it looks that way from the average spectator’s eye. It lacks conventional wisdom. That spectator will wonder how the passionate can have so little regard for their own well-being and sometimes mistake it for laziness, immaturity or lack of drive.

When will those darned passionate people finally have the sense to make something of themselves?

Those that go far enough do, when they’ve started truly accomplishing that passion’s purpose: when the harmony, beauty, or service is there, or within reach.

Passion is an Act of Faith.

How can it be otherwise when passion takes your energy and focus and has no regards for your well-being? Everything about passion suggests failure, bankruptcy, loneliness and hardships of all shapes and sizes. Yet those that find their passion and give it the energy it requires seem to have a knack for falling on their feet. Failure befalls those that hesitate, backtrack and let doubt take over. Those that succeed go all out, for as long as it takes.

People living their passion disregard their fear and stay the course, however unreasonable it may seem. And they don’t even know why. They have faith in the vision that only becomes clearer as they slowly reach its purpose. At first they have faith in there even being a vision because they are yet to see it. This is why they will always fail, in the early stages, to clearly explain what they are doing, and why.

They learn to believe that there is nothing to fear, because by abiding to their passion they are living in correlation with their purpose. They believe in a world order that depends on their finding their place and playing their part. They believe that ignoring their calling harms that world order, and that it will somehow preserve them if they stay the course. They believe that the challenges they are facing were meant for them to be overcome, and aren’t beyond their ability. They believe that they are not truly alone. They believe that what they are risking has little value compared to what they will gain.

Passion is Recommended.

For all the struggle, hardship, fear, doubt, devoted time and effort, those that find and live their passion(s) wouldn’t have it any other way.

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