Practicing Passion And Action

posted 24th June 2010    Written by: Katie    CATEGORY: Inspiration, Katie, Quarterlife Crisis, Season 2, What I've Learned

Whenever someone is good at what they do, they’re said to have passion. Moreover, when they do something admirable, a firm “Way to take action!” is thrown in their direction.  Passion and action are two things that have driven me my entire life – just not at the same time. Unfortunately, until recently, I didn’t realize that though I was being driven, it was mostly in one big huge circle.

When I was in grade school, I was placed in smart kid classes. They were called “Academically Talented” classes, but the other kids just called them “smart kid classes”.  Of course, when they said “smart kid classes” they’d turn their sarcasm level on high to match the position of their nose in the air. I get more honor out of being in the classes now than I did then because I now realize the importance of intelligence and being recognized for such talents.

Regardless of the lack of due respect from my peers, I still went to the classes. I didn’t want to. I just wanted to be “normal”, “regular”, “average”, even.  I took the action everyday to go to the classes, mostly because I had to. What I was lacking was the passion to make the best of the situation. I could have cared less about what my grades were in that class, because they always got rounded up to A’s.

I continued in the smart kid classes up until my sophomore year in high school. My success in the classes eventually went down the toilet because I never gained passion for being smart. I didn’t want to be. I didn’t look at being in these classes as recognition so much as segregation. Eventually, I was placed where I always wanted to be – with the average kids. As much as I banked on things being better, they weren’t.

5 years later, when I was 22, I found myself in a dead end job. I wanted so much more out of my life. All day long, in place of work, I’d think back to my younger years and remember that I wanted to be a dancer (without the pole), a teacher, and a master of computer repair. I had wished I had more passion. I had plenty of it at 22. I wanted out of that job, out of unhealthy relationships, out of the life slump that I was in. I’d dream of my life being enjoyable, of waking up everyday and wanting to go to a job that I loved.

Unfortunately, with all of this determination, drive and passion, I didn’t take any action at all. I stayed at my dead end job, until I reached the dead end, and I had no where to go.

Over the next 3 years as I went through my Quarter Life Crisis alone before I knew that it even existed, I would teeter between having a lot of passion with no follow through, and a whole lot of action toward a non-existent goal; without passion. I was too down on life and myself to realize that no matter what I did, I still wasn’t happy and that something had to change.

The realization that I had to combine passion and action didn’t hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t have an “a-ha” moment – or at least not a dramatic one. Recently, I’ve been trying to do more things that I want to do. If I want to go to bed early, I do. Id I want to look into going to college, I do. If I want to dance naked around my bedroom to Michael Bolton, I do.

In the same light, if I have to do something that I don’t necessarily have the choice to do, like not-so-fun project, or tedious favor for someone, I don’t “just do it”. I get myself into a state of “want to” and realizing that sometimes there are things that you have to do. I inject a little passion into my veins (metaphorically), and I do whatever it is that needs to be done. I’ve noticed that even those mundane things are more fun to do, and the completed project is of much higher quality than it would have been without passion.

It took me 25 years to learn, but the lesson is life changing. My quality of life has increased a boat-load. I do things that I’m passionate about, and I’m passionate about things that I (have to) do.

Passion and Action just go together. Kind of like peanut butter and jelly, pen and paper, and sour cream and…well, anything.

(photo credit: via)

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Comments (2)

2 Responses to “Practicing Passion And Action”

  • Natalie Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    Wow! Such a simple concept when it's spelled out, but we get so caught up in things we forget to practice it. Doing things you want to do! I'm definitely the kind of person who will say "I want to do yoga in the mornings" or "I want to take more time to be mindful" etc etc, but it's like there is a tiny asterisks attached to each of those things that reads "*someday, maybe, when the stars align and it's the easy and obvious thing to do and I don't really have to take the action." If it's something I want to do and I think would make me happy, why don't I just do it and be happy!

    It's funny because this concept is at the very heart of life design! I want to enjoy the work I do every day. Ok, well… don't sit around and wait for the listing for your dream job to appear on Craigslist, take some action and make your happiness happen!

    I love the juxtaposition you make between passion and action. You really can't have one without the other! I can complete the action of going to work every day, but if it's a job I'm not passionate about, I won't be happy. On the other hand, if I have passion for all these ideas I want to do in my head, but I never get around to actually doing them for one reason or another, then I'll surely stay unhappy as well! Great post =)

  • Caz Says:
    June 24th, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    Totally non-constructive, but I totally agree that sour cream goes with ANYTHING.

    xoxo

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