What are you passionate about?
I look at my two oldest girls, and I see them brimming with passion. They are intensely invested in their favorite activities, and they take their passions very seriously.
I can’t tell you the number of times I have to tell Magoo to put her notebook down because it’s dinner or bedtime. And she gets so upset because I’m interrupting her writing, her work.
She takes it so seriously. She is interested in it, and therefore it’s important.
And then I look at myself. My writing is a bit different, but I do it for the same reason she does – I enjoy it. It makes me feel alive. It makes me feel solid.
And yet there’s one difference. She would never dismiss her work or call it silly. Because she respects her desires.
Somewhere through our journey into adulthood, I think many of us lose our respect for the things in life that pleasure us. We learn to ask ourselves what value our actions have. What their payout is.
We save time that way and we save energy. But what we lose is much more important. We lose our respect for the part of our soul that needs an outlet and needs respect and needs to be listened to even if it speaks of trivialities.
So what are you passionate about? What would you pursue if you weren’t afraid of failure or being inconsequential? What makes you feel alive and whole? What makes your spirit dance?
Today people were killed and injured and psychologically wounded while pursuing a passion. A marathon doesn’t save lives or end wars or solve poverty. But it teaches its runners that it is okay to invest greatly in themselves and their passions. It validates the part of themselves that wants to be heard, the part of themselves that believes in its own worth.
So in honor of all of them and in honor of ourselves, lets try to give ourselves permission to dream and explore and pursue. What would you do?