"...If you want to find out where your true passions lie, stop looking and simply start living everything you do throughout the day with passion and zeal." This excerpt was taken from an article I found whilst Stumbling upon the internet. It's a truly ingenious, reflective article by Marcus Sheridan, a website advisor to businesses. The title of this article, "7 Habits that Will Make You Happier, Heathier, and Way More Likeable", is what drew me in. The logical, list-loving, left brained inquisitor inside of me started doing cartwheels; a to the point, humorous, potenitially helful guide to life? Could it be true? As a matter of fact, it was. His article addressed points that, while simple in idea, were profound if you actually sat and thought about them. View point number six, from where the opening quote was taken. "Stop trying to find your passion". He may as well have sent this to my email, tagged me in the post, and threw my picture at the top. Thank you, Mr. Sheridan, for so resolutely and unabashedly telling me to get over myself, and my greatness will come.
This isn't to say that I'm not happy, healthy, or way likeable. At the risk of patting myself on the shoulder too hard, I think I've managed to encompass all of those traits. However, I am indeed a human being, and simply cannot thrive in routine day after day. I am CONSTANTLY aspiring for greater things. I look ahead to the next billboard, roadblock, and left turn. I'm decisive with my future, to the point of being obsessive; always planning how I will succeed, how I will make a name for myself, how I will lay on my deathbed, and look over my life with a glorious biography written for those I leave behind. Finding my passion is my latest hobby. This is even more pronounced by the fact that I'm currently in my "paying the dues" phase- working the dreary, unstimulating 9 to 5, with too many hours and not enough pay, whilst banking every free moment on the web, in the library, or on the town, passing out resumes, making contacts, and generally being a stalker of everyone in my industry. Not doing what I love has turned me into a giant, unstoppable monster of finding something I do love. One second, it's a career in the hair industry (actually, that's just about every second of every day). Another, it's going back to school, getting my English degree, and molding young minds with the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Maya Angelou. Another, it's becoming an astute yoga student, or creating culinary masterpieces, or learning French, or running. And the most oddball, astonding realization I've come to is that I love every single one of the new adventures I've taken on. But for some unknown reason, I've still spent coutless moments thinking there's something more, a calling that I'm missing.
Or maybe, just maybe, I'm trying too damn hard.
I am extremely lucky/blessed/fortunante/successful. Whatever you want to call it, however you think it's happened, I have achieved a status in my own life, defined by no one else but me, that I consider success. I have a constantly growing list of people I'm thankful to have in my life, for whatever influence, inspiration, or just good old fun they may bring me. I have a job, which is more than so many can say during these times. I have a cozy, warm home, stocked with good food and better friends, and a big, squishy pillow who's always there after a hard day. I have a personality, style, and presence that seems to affect other people in positive ways, and a brain that just can't stop wanting to learn. I'm healthy, I have all my limbs, and I'm not terminal. I have a voice, and a dream, which is all I need to keep moving forward. All in all, I have a life. A gently used life, with tons of miles to go, and lots of trunk space for those memories I know I'll be making. I'm young, I'm happy, I have a world ahead of me, a world that wants me to go forth and make a footprint (as long as it isn't of the carbon variety). So I don't need a passion tomorrow. I don't need to tell anyone what I want to do for the rest of my life. Today, I want to do hair/practice yoga/read books/knit/make friends/have babies/write books/study fashion. That's 8 different passsions. And they're all mine, and they will not only fulfill me, they will overflow me. Because it's really as simple as finding passion in the things I do every single day. I can be passionate about taking a shower, if I want. Or watching trashy tv. Or rereading my Pottery Barn catalouge over and over again, and swearing how someday, I'll learn to make that milk bottle chandelier. As long as I make the mundane events in my life astounding, I won't ever feel unfulfilled. It's the age old statement, which has brought wisdom to so many individuals- Coveting is a sin. Be thankful for what you have. And get over yourself. :)
