Too Passionate?

Is there a point when you have too much passion? I was wondering this while thinking about what my next step would be. Is it possible to go over board? Can your passion control your life? Should it control your life? Is there a point when it is to much?

These are all questions that are running through my head while thinking about finding a passion and after looking on line I found that a lot of people have the same concern.

I think the difference is that some people become obsessed with things in their life and this should not be confused with passion. Obsession is when a person becomes fixated on something or someone or even a belief or idea. This is usually not a good thing. There is a disorder called OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder. Usually what happens when someone has this is that they are doing a specific thing over and over again because of maybe a traumatic event that occurred and it caused them distress. The repeating nature of doing this what ever it may be like cleaning your house twice or three times a day, also becomes a distress on the person. Another thing is people usually don't want to keep doing what they are doing but feel they have to or can't stop themselves.

This should never be confused with passion, because like I have mentioned in earlier posts passion is something that makes you wake up in the morning and gives you the feeling of accomplishment and self worth even. Obsessions do the opposite. So if you feel like your passion is becoming an obsession take a step back and make sure you are still enjoying what you are doing.

Here is fun thing to check out a list of celebrities that have OCD

Step #3 - Give it a try!

Leo Babauta says,

"Give it a try first. It’s best to actually test your new idea before jumping into it as a career. Do it as a hobby or side job at first, so that you can see if it’s really your true calling. You may be passionate about it for a few days, but where the rubber meets the road is whether you’re passionate about it for at least a few months. If you pass this test, you have probably found it."

Leo has a great article on how to find your passion and lays it straight, he makes it very easy to understand, where as some articles and some sites use really sophisticated words that don't really tell you anything. Reading his article was an eye opener and makes me feel like I can do it.

However, Leo talks about making money with your passion. This is all very good but right now I think that the making money part should come later, a lot later. This is the time to experiment and research things that you enjoy.  Try different things at the same time or just stick to one thing at a time. At this point in the game there are no rules, not that there should be, but some steps don't always have to follow an order. Finding your passion shouldn't be scheduled it should come from a place deep down within. 

If you have been following my blog you've seen that I have tried a couple things that have interested me and analyzed how much I cared about them. But going forward I'm going to start trying things that are not in my comfort zone as well. I realized I might not have to be good at something for it to be my passion. If you really like something you will learn more about it and become good at it. I realized this when reading a friend of mines blog. She blogs about music and knows a lot about it, "remixthatmusic" is the name of it. I have a few friends like this and always wondered how they knew so much. I really like listening to music and really like dancing, and I am intrigued by her knowledge of it, and impressed. When it comes to my knowledge, I'm embarrassed to say that I know very little about the songs that I listen too and dance too.

Trying to see if I'm passionate about music will be just one of many, I'm sure.  I might find out that I don't care who sings a song or the name of the song but one good thing of trying this will be; I will at least be able to have conversation with my friends about it. 

Step 2 - Analyze

I have realized another thing about passion trying to understand it almost makes it harder. After reading many, many posts about passion and peoples definitions of it, it seems that to try and define passion is almost impossible really. Passion must define you, so it can mean different things to different people.

There was a good quote in the movie "Serendipity" (yes I watched it), it said "You know the Greeks didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: 'Did he have passion?'"

 When I die, I want the answer to that question to be, yes he did.

This brings me to step 2 in finding your passion. Ask your self-questions. Try to analyze what are the things in life that make you happy that make you want to jump out of bed in the morning and go to sleep early to do it all over again. These are some question I found that I think will help.

7 Questions To Finding Your True Passion by Frederic Premji:

What puts a smile on your face?

What do you find easy?

What sparks your creativity?

What would you do for free?

What do you like to talk about?

What makes you unafraid of failure?

What would you regret not having tried?

These are great questions to ask. I think I'm finally starting to get it. When thinking about life I always looked at the things I have a done or have not done in the past. I would say things like I wish I did this and I wish I did that. I realized that I have to start focusing on things that I have control over and not dwell on missed opportunities or regrets. These questions have help me put some things into perspective and I'm going to try and discover more about myself as I dive into these questions.

Step 1

Well I'm starting to figure out the feeling's associated with having a passion, I hope. By relating experiences and things that you learn, it becomes a matter of actually putting in steps. Not just by hoping one day it will just pop out and hit you in the jaw. So here is the first of the steps in finding a passion.

Step 1- You need to be happy with yourself. Your body must be in a good place physically and mentally. Studies show that physical activity gets the blood flowing in your body and brain and this in turns helps you think better and clearer. Another way is by meditating; new research that will appear in the January edition of the journal, Psychiatry Research, shows that meditation affects the flow of blood to the brain.

As you exercise or meditate you should pay attention to what your mind is saying because you may just realize some inspiring things and in the end you will at least feel better.

So what I've started to do is:
1) Every day I will do at least 30 min of exercise
2) Every day I will do at least 20 min. of stretching or breathing techniques (there is a lot of benefits in breathing exercises)
3) Every day I will have at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables

A healthy life is a happy life and I think the only way to find a passion is to be happy.