Passion: for some a very familiar gift that has always been present since childhood, for others a mirage, ethereal and distant.
The statement “Finding your passion” might trigger a variety of emotions, particularly when related to our decisions in life. What’s important about it?
As a child I bumped into my passion while reading an adv in school: ballet. It was love at the first sight. There was nothing more fascinating than spending my days in a ballet studio, watching anything related to ballet and practicing it.
It lasted long time and today is still present, even if just in the watching. Still now, when I come close to a pointed shoe or even a picture of a dancer, my breath stops and my heart accelerates.
How this passion has defined me? A lot! Not in becoming a ballet dancer, but in acquiring skills as persistence, motivation, commitment, hard work, resilience, creativity and sensitivity for music, talent, grace and beauty.
Now in my second phase in life I’ve discovered another activity: cycling. It’s not a passion in itself but the process of getting better in it and the consequences of doing it have become a passion as the lifestyle, the pride of getting over my fears, the challenge.
Has passion defined my choices in life?
Yes, indeed!
Because of what I’m passionate about?
Not necessarily!
It’s not only the object of the passion that is hugely relevant, it’s the process that matters.
The process of cultivating something and putting effort into it gives meaning and purpose and eventually creates passion. While committing myself to something I believe is important, maybe because aligned to some of my primary values, I develop my passion for it. Passion it’s not a treasure I find somewhere, it’s something I nurture and grow by focusing my attention and committing to something.
The consequences are priceless: it amplifies your interests, expands your borders, pushes you further and connects you with people and situations you would hardly meet otherwise.
For some people their passion is and has always being clear and present and they built their life around it.
For others is not an object, it’s a process. A process that can always be nurtured just paying attention to what is important for ourselves and dedicating energy and time to go deeper where things start to reveal their beauty, make sense and inform your decisions.
