it’s been a while since i wrote something deep, meaningful and personal… that’s mostly because i’ve been focused on training, but also because i’ve been letting a few ideas and thoughts bubble away. with marathon training back in full swing, those thinking sessions (aka “long runs”) are back…
it all boils down to passion
it’s a bit of a cliché to be honest; personal development bloggers and self-help “gurus” everywhere will tell you, time and time again, that you have to find your “passion”. it’s a simple concept, you basically find the thing that you love so much that “it doesn’t feel like work”, and then make that your career, your vocation, your life.
but then you ask yourself “what is my passion?” – that’s when the fun begins.
i spent decades figuring this one out, effectively anyway. I actually didn’t have any awareness of all this self-help stuff until maybe 5 years ago – actively avoided “all that nonsense” in fact! but I did know that there was “more to life”, that i needed to shift away from simply having a job, and build my life around something that i wanted to do.
I think we all inherently have that feeling deep inside. somewhere.
once i did start latching onto the personal development stuff, that’s when i found out that you’re supposed to have a “passion”.
my personal quest for passion
i sought high and low, i did every exercise out there; making lists of topics that appealed to me, writing down my skills, examining what I spent my time doing… and i concluded that what I really should be doing was to have a software and/or web development company. to build something, to have a public offering, make a wedge of cash and be like Mark Zuckerberg.
I actually built a couple of web apps. they were good. they did what they were intended to do, and there was undoubtedly a mass market for them. but it never took off. i never put in the effort needed to market them. i never went outside of my comfort zone to get financial backing, marketing assistance and whatever else is needed for this type of thing.
i was satisfied at an intellectual level, i’d solved a problem. i was then ready to move on.
the missing ingredient was this mysterious “passion” thing – without it, things didn’t move forward.
how do I know that was the missing ingredient?
good question, and I’m glad i asked me that 🙂
you see, i did find a passion eventually. finally got to experience what a passion feels like. finally understood the “energy” that goes along with these things.
i was in the middle of yet another incarnation of a web development business – this time with 2 partners. i had simple tasks in my inbox, simple changes needed to client websites. changes that would maybe take 15 minutes to do. yet those things stayed there, waiting to be done, waiting for me to “find time”, waiting for me to stop procrastinating.
and at the same time, i was running. training for the perth marathon. getting up 5 or 6 days a week at stupid o’clock. putting on running shoes and hitting the streets.
each and every day. no question. no procrastination. me, the open road, my thoughts and nothing else (well, maybe a bottle of water and something to eat!)
and it dawned on me – this running thing, this being fit and active thing, this losing weight and facing up to a lifetime of demons thing – this was my passion, this was the thing i would do day in, day out, no matter what, and regardless of whether i was paid to do it or not!
i gave up the web development – i suddenly felt lighter!
except it’s not really “just running” that is my passion
sure i love running, i absolutely love it. the impact it has had on my life has been amazing. the effect it has had on my energy levels, my mindset, my outlook on life – all absolutely fantastic and beyond belief.
but it goes beyond that, and deep down i realise now that i have known all along what it is i want to do.
inspire. motivate. encourage. support. let people know that life is short, that life is worth living, that life should be enjoyed and not endured. that this should be a world of passion, where people are as happy as they can be, doing the things they love, with the people they love doing those things with!
for me that all started with getting fit, becoming a runner. I would thoroughly recommend getting fit, getting re-energised, as the solid base on which to build. a starting point for finding your passion. will running be your passion? maybe, maybe not. it doesn’t matter.
what matters is that you stop merely existing. what matters is that you dig down deep in your soul and let the real you out.
what matters is that you do whatever you need to do to get energised, to get enthused, to get motivated. to find your passion. and then live it.
so, what are you waiting for?
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