What Are You Passionate About?

We all have something (or someone) in our life that we are passionate about.

If you just came up blank, all I can say is "What?????"

It's just not possible, or so I believe, to live every day and not have several things actually, to be passionate about.

Well, unless you are brain dead maybe...

Per dictionary.com passion is:

a) any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.

b) a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything:a passion for music.

Also per dictionary.com, passionate is:

a) having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling.)

Being the person that I am, I went searching online for things that others are passionate. Here are just a few samples of what I found:

Healthy eating and/or lifestyle, reading, taking classes or courses, journaling, finance, leadership or coaching, teaching, volunteering, writing, speaking, painting, knitting, collecting, music (playing or singing), dancing, watching tv, photography, hosting or planning events, gardening, travel, sports, comedy, card games, card tricks, crafts, restoring cars, raising and training pets, building things, and the list goes on and on and on.

You get the point, right. There is absolutely no reason for every one of us to find something that we are or can be passionate about.

Take me, for example. I simply cannot conceive of waking each day and not looking forward to working in my garden.

Oh, I have been laughing so hard for the last five minutes since I completed that last sentence that I can barely breathe now.

Seriously? Anyone who knows me at all knows I do not do well with growing plants or flowers. In fact, not only do I not have green thumbs, I have two black thumbs.

Indeed, I love and enjoy plants and flowers, but you never, ever, ever want to have me caring for yours. Trust me on this one.

Do you remember the fad of the "air ferns?" (At least, I think that's what they were.)

The marketing around them involved words such as completely, totally indestructible. Hah! I proved that theory was wrong.

I know you are sitting there shaking and scratching your head wondering where in the world am I going with this.

Me, too.

I often open my brain (and mouth) and just wait to see what is going to tumble out.

My answer is usually, "I can answer that when I open my mouth and hear what comes out."

Yep, it's always a surprise for me, too.

I think anyone reading this can answer the question of what my number 1 passion is.

Why, of course, it's getting up in the morning and clocking in to spend the day getting yelled and screamed at. LOLOLOL!!! PLEASE do not get me wrong; I do love my job and there are days filled with laughter, the joy of helping people, spending time interacting with co-workers, etc.

Still, work is NOT my main passion.

Okay, what do YOU say it is?

If you answered anything other than photography, please ask yourself this question right now: who in the world were we just talking about?

That's the only way you could have missed that one, folks. :)

Yet, daily, I find myself deleting and/or ignoring requests from people self-identifying as photographers. Doesn't matter what level that actually are on, I have VERY few photographers that I follow on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, or any or social media.

Why?

That's my question: why would I?

Here's why. I meet with a dear and long-time friend just about daily on Facebook. We both love photography. We rarely discuss photography.

Photography is MY PASSION. Her passion is music. We have these passions that are closely guarded from input, criticism, debate or, comments on either.

For her, all the way through school, people badgered about why wasn't she majoring in music.

Same for me. For years and years, I have done professional photography for news, for portraits and family photos, and for advertisement both for myself and others.

In that same discussion, we both said, it's because we get so much joy from them and that would be lost if we were forced into what to play or shoot.

We do both just for the sheer enjoyment we get from being engrossed in both.

And, boom!, lookie what I found in one of the sites I was researching on:

**Passions are not marriage contracts. It’s actually better when you diversify your source of fulfillment and derive meaning from different areas, hobbies, interests, passions, and purposes.** (Note 1)

Don't get me wrong. If someone asked me to help them with their photography, I would in a heartbeat. But with limitations attached.

Just don't expect me to start teaching full time, full fledged lessons. And, if you have bestowed upon yourself the title of "Professional Photography", yea for you. But, do not for one single second think that means I want to discuss photography with you for hours on end.

I promise you will only see my back as I walk away.

Especially, please do not pull a photo out of your pocket and say something inane like "Check out this photo I took." Or at least make sure I don't read the same magazines you do and saw the photo which was actually taken by a friend who actually IS a professional photographer. Yep, true story...

I am guessing that a bunch of you are sitting there shaking your heads in a yes, confirming similar things have happened to you. Correct?

To sum this all up, here is my tag line from my professional days:

"Creating splashes of Joy by capturing moments of Beauty that last Forever!"

Yes, I am still open to taking photos. This website has an OFFERS page that will provide contact information just for that.

So, now, I want to hear about your passion. What are you so passionate about doing every day that everything else pales in comparison?

You can comment below if you would like. You can send me a message or email. Another of my minor passions is learning more about the people around me and what makes them tick.

So now, it's your turn. And, with that, I will see you here next week.

Now, your turn. Mark. Set. Go!