Passion (And Why You Should Find Yours)

I love writing. I’ve loved it since I was a tiny child of about 8 years old. I’d write short stories trying to ape my favorite authors, read books and books on end, and find myself gravitating towards RPGs with a strong focus on great storylines. I guess that’s why I’ve never truly enjoyed battle royales since there’s not much of a story there for me to enjoy. I’ve been a fan of games with haunting storylines, ones where you can take the values and the messages that they’re trying to convey and take it with you wherever you go, even long after you’ve finished the game, and for quite some time, the only way I could truly ape that style of writing was through music. That was, at least, until I was brave enough to start writing on my own in the form of blogs.

My blogs have never been anything special. In fact, if you’d compare me to some of my peers and some of my friends, I’d fall incredibly short. You’d think that for someone who has professed his love for writing at an early age, I’d be a much better writer than most. But that’s not how things work. Think about it there’s not a single day that passes where people don’t recognize Guthrie Govan for the pure technical prowess that the man has, yet he’s nowhere to be seen on the charts, but it’s so clearly visible that he loves what he does and that’s all the man wants. The same thing is true for me. I don’t feel the need to be a celebrated author to be happy, I’m happy enough writing on the side for clients who need it and even more grateful that I’m making a living off of it.

There’s not a single day that passes without me being grateful to be doing what I do, and I’ll always be grateful for the people who have taken the gamble on me when I was just starting out with practically nothing to prove that I can even write properly. And lately, I’ve been thinking a whole lot about passion and what it does, since every time I go on social media, there’s always someone talking about passion and why it’s so dang important for us to find what we’re passionate about. Passion is often linked to purpose and that’s why you need to find where your passion lies if you’re ever going to find what your purpose is.

Why is this so important then?

Well, whether we like to admit it or not, no matter how much we like doing something, once it becomes a profession, things often take a turn, and sometimes, that turn is so dramatic that people have ended falling out of love with the very thing that they used to do as a hobby and it doesn’t really matter how much you love doing it, if it’s merely just a hobby to you, then there will come a point where you’ll get quite sick and tired of doing it and you’ll want to stop, and that’s where passion comes in.

Passion is very different from the feeling that you get from doing your hobby. Where hobbies will give you the same feeling as going on a short walk or a bowling session with your friends, passion will always feel like an ice-cold glass of water on an intensely hot day. You’ll feel refreshed, fulfilled, and you’ll always be grateful for the chance that you get to do it. Sounds quite similar? Well, yes, when there’s no pressure attached to it, sure. Things will take a sharp turn when you apply the pressure that normally comes with having it as a job. I’ve talked about pressure before and how you can handle it better in my previous article that you can find here.

The difference is, when you’re under the immense amount of pressure and stress that comes with having a job, you’ll find that passion will stay no matter what, and will still feel the way it did when it wasn’t your job, and you’ll feel even happier about it even though the pressure that you’re facing is quite significant. Hobbies just don’t. They’ll fizzle out the second you see any pressure applied to it and you’ll stop finding it enjoyable.

This is why it’s so important for us to find exactly what it is that we’re passionate about; because that’s the best way for us to move forward. Think about it, why would you want to keep doing something that you hate when all it does is add pressure and stress to your life? Wouldn’t it be better to be doing something that you love instead? Now, I know that most of us can’t afford to have that option, and that’s fine. The point of this article is just to provoke the thought of passion, where it can take us, and the amazing things that we can do with it.

Find your passion. We’re only here once, so why not be here doing the things that we love because of our love for it?