Do You Follow Your Passion? Should You?

Passion is a hot button topic.  It is brought up all the time in various settings.  Kids and adults are often heard saying “I’m following my passion” or being told “follow your passion.”  However, I wonder is this the right message?  Is it our passion that we should follow?  Or when should decide that our passion is the right one to follow?  Do we just blindly bounce from one passion to another?  I believe passion is valuable.  I also believe that finding a passion for the work you do and the life you're living is crucial to feeling fulfilled.  I often wonder though if we know what we're getting into when we follow our passion without knowing what that really means.

Let me start by saying that I am very fulfilled in the work I do.  I'm passionate about helping people become a better version of themself.  However, the means by which I implement this passion has evolved.  I started as a trainer, using physical fitness to help people better themself.  I transitioned to high school coach and helping our young people learn lessons on life, work, sport, and more.  Today I'm a little bit of many things, but the focus is still on coaching and helping people.  I work with athletes, I coach, I mentor, I have a podcast, I engage in meaningful conversations and constantly try to learn and think deeply about who I am, but all of this aligns with my passion for helping others.

So, I do believe you should find a passion you want to commit your life to.  However, I don't think you should just follow your passion blindly.  I think you have to find a passion you're willing to nurture and grow.  You have to be aware of who you are and if that passion fits your situation.  As I reflected on the idea of following your passion I thought of an analogy that I think fits this situation.  I’m going to share this with you now, but bear with me as this thought is new and may change as I dig deeper.

Passion is a spark.  But the point of a spark is to create a fire.  A spark without the right fuel dies.  Does your current situation support the spark you have to create a fire?  Is there enough kindling to create a flame, enough sticks to fuel a fire, and enough logs to sustain it over time?  Passion may ignite a spark, but without these other things that’s all it will ever be.  As I mentioned above if you're passionate about something that doesn't fit your life or environment, it's like building a fire with wet wood.  It's going to be very hard to ignite that fire.

You need to be sure that your passion has enough wood, oxygen, and space to grow and flourish.  If you neglect your fire it will eventually burn out.  This is another part of this analogy that is critical.  You may be able to get a fire started, but what are you willing to do to keep that fire burning?  Will you protect it from the elements?  Will you keep in burning in a controlled environment or just let it run ablaze destroying everything around you?  Finding a passion is great, but keeping a passion alive takes time and effort.

Once you find something you think you’re passionate about, you have to determine if this is a true passion or momentary infatuation.  Ask yourself are you willing to sacrifice to keep this fire burning?  Will you get up in the middle of the night to feed the fire if it gets low?  Will you hold an umbrella over it when it rains?  Will you build a cover to keep it burning for an extended period of time?  Being passionate about something is great, but what will you do to continue to develop that passion?

Ultimately, if you’ve found a passion that is true.  Once you find that thing you're willing to work at to build and grow and keep burning the tasks required to nurture it no longer feel like sacrifices.  You're not sacrificing to keep it going, you’re doing what is required to build your passion into a bonfire.  You're putting in the time and effort to keep adding logs to the fire.  You begin to think of the things you do as a choice to fan the flames of your passion, not as a sacrifice to build a fire.

There is a lot more to dive into with this topic, which is why there are whole books devoted to this topic.  I hope this post pushes you to reflect on your passion.  I hope you choose to reflect on the questions I asked above.  I'm not someone who ever claims to have all the answers, but I do think that blindly following a passion is a potential recipe for disaster.  Be cautious with how you use the sparks that show up in your life.  Be cautious about abandoning an old fire for something new, the environment may not be as conducive to building a flame as where you're at now.

As you continue to move through this life I hope you find passion in the things you do.  I hope you find joy and commit yourself to becoming something special and great.  But be leery of blindly following a passion without knowing more about it.  Don't chase sparks.  Decide if you want to use that spark to build a fire.  Once you build that fire decide if you want to sustain that fire.  If your passion shifts, find a way to take the fire you've already built and move it with you to the new location.  Don’t let the fire you built completely burn out.  My passion has shifted over time, but the fire I've built is fuel for the new passion and pursuits because I take the time to move it with me and not blindly follow the next spark.