Passion, who has one and who doesn’t?

I’ve heard chatter about finding your passion. It must be a standard question when meeting someone. Once you get past the small talk of name, where you live, and what you do for a living comes the passion question (or maybe it’s just me – do I look passion-less or passion-full about something unsaid- am I oozing passion from my pores and just haven’t recognized my passion?).

So…What’s your passion? Welll, (Long silence) I’m passionate about saving worms from flooding rains, salamanders, and birds. You?

I’ve been searching for my passion, and so far, I’ve come up empty. Color me green with envy for those who have found their passion.

Now, I complete tasks passionately, but I’m not necessarily passionate about the task. Get my drift? I’ll clean my house with passion, but cleaning houses for a living is not my passion. I can organize rooms with passion, but being a professional organizer is not something I’m passionate about.

But I have questions and thoughts.

What if someone hasn’t found their passion? Maybe they don’t have one? Are they less content with their life without a passion? Can we stop searching for passion at some point in our life?

I think some people have a passion and some simply do not. Those who do not enjoy life in dozens of different ways. Not that those who’ve nailed down what they are passionate about don’t, but our main focus (those with no passion) is simply enjoying life. It doesn’t mean we don’t care about child hunger, toy trains, and cures for cancer; it simply means maybe we haven’t been smacked upside the head with cancer, haven’t been hungry, or have loved a certain toy. Nothing wrong with that.

Does it mean we don’t sympathize with those who’ve encountered and endured those things? No. It may mean we don’t have empathy because we haven’t lived it, we haven’t worn your size nines, but we are sympathetic to those in need, or those looking for answers, or those in love with toy trains.

I think when we continue to maniacally search for something that may not exist for some, it becomes disheartening and slightly depressing. This is when we should take stock of our lives, determine our happiness on our own personal scale, and stop comparing our lives to others.

I guess what I’m saying is…be happy where you are, enjoy those life’s little moments, and if you’re not happy, keep searching. Your passion could spring up and bite you in the ass. I hope you recognize it for what it is. (Pssst. Not a snake! That’s passion!)