Passion—any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling

Passion—a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm or desire for anything

 

Passion is a word that seems to be excessively used and confused with purpose and interestingly paired with work.  It has found its way into all sorts of environments—school, work, places of worship, neighborhood communities, etc. It has become a buzzword-like phenomena since we are told to constantly follow it.

We often hear people say that they are passionate about X or Y, but it always seems like the focus is on some external thing or force. I am pretty certain that if you asked a bunch of people what they are passionate about that you would get a bunch of varying responses. But most likely it would be about work, a hobby, a community, a relationship or an interest or call to something like music, art, learning, science, health, etc. Why does it seem that our passions are drawn to other things and people outside of ourselves?

You will not hear many people say that they are passionate about themselves. Maybe this is because it seems too self-centered or self-serving or just uncomfortable to say that we have a powerful emotion or enthusiasm for ourselves. It is just not in the “norms” of society. Maybe it is because we are not fully comfortable or accepting of ourselves or have not really spent time to know ourselves. 

Or could it be that through being passionate about things or people and pursuing those passions this contributes to our own well-being and happiness. It is sort of the training wheels for being passionate about ourselves. Through the experiences we have in being passionate about other things or people we learn to know how to be passionate about ourselves.

Common lore holds that when you follow your passion, bliss ensues. Which leads me to being passionate about yourself. I came across an informal poll online that asked people what they were passionate about. The one response that stood out for me was “my passion is having happiness within myself no matter what the situation.”

Being passionate about you is not selfish or conceded. It is being in-tune with yourself and thinking about and doing things (taking action) that fuels your soul. Being passionate about yourself leads you to discoveries of purpose, gives you fresh perspectives and new outlooks.

So, it is perfectly fine to have strong interests or emotions for something outside of yourself as these help you learn about yourself and contribute to who you are. Likewise, it is perfectly fine to be passionate about who you are—you—and not defined by those other things or people.