There’s a lot of talk these days about passion. You’re told to “find your passion,” “follow your passion,” “to live your passion.” But I think the term passion can be misunderstood.
Too many times when reading one of these business-passion type of articles I get the sense that we should all be loving every minute of every single thing that we do each day. That if you aren’t then you haven’t found your true passion. But to me that’s unrealistic and not even really what passion is about. Passion is about sacrifice.
I don’t think you should sacrifice all else in your life to follow your passion. We need to be well rounded to be happy. The type of sacrifice I mean is much more mundane. I think that passion for something is wanting to do it so much that you’re willing to do all the crap that goes along with it. The hard work. The practice. The chores that go along with the fun stuff.
When I was a teenager I wanted to play guitar. I took lessons. I learned chords and songs and finger picking. But I hated doing scales. It turned out I didn’t have the passion for playing because I wasn’t willing to do the mundane practice that’s needed.
You know what I hate as much as doing scales? Filing and sanding metal. But I do it. Why? Because I love the making enough to need to follow through and do the boring stuff that finishes my work off. Would I love it if I never had to sand again? Yes! But I’m willing to do it because I have a passion for making my art the best that it can be.
What do you have a passion for to the point where you’re motivated to do the boring stuff?
Hammermarks 
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! “Passion is about sacrifice.” That is so true! Yes, we love what we do because we are passionate about it but that doesn’t mean that every menial task we have to do to make our dreams happen is a pleasure. It’s as if the moment we feel any resistance or have to put in any hard work at all we just throw our hands up and walk away. To make our dreams a reality we not only need some grit, we also need to have some real work ethic! Not every single thing we do in life is going to be fun. It goes back to that old cliche of “seeing the forest through the trees.” We have to focus on why we do what we do when we have to do the everyday tasks that can sometimes be mundane.
LikeLike
So true, Alaina.
LikeLike
Perfect, Wendy. Thanks for another thoughtfully expressed important idea.
LikeLike
Great post. Passion is what keeps you going. Without passion people quit when things get tough. Passion is the internal drive that pushes you to get where you want to be.
LikeLike
Like writing the IEP and numerous interim reports so that I can continue to teach. ;’)
LikeLike
I’m not sure what all that means, Wayne, but it does sound like a sacrifice. I hope your students appreciate what you go through for them :^)
LikeLike
There are times I wished I did not know it either. ;’)
LikeLike