Passion (Or Lack Thereof)

A friend of mine sat next to me recently, her Legend of Zelda book in hand. She passionately showed me all the artwork of the various characters: Lionel (no relation to Lionel Ritchie), Link, Zelda, and Gannon. Even at ten years old, her passion for the game was palpable. 

I was reminded of another person in my life with a passion for the Zelda universe: my old man. Dad loved to play Zelda. Even as children, my sister and I knew not to mess up his progress. His goal was to get through both quests of the original game without dying once. I think he succeeded several times. Soon, he graduated to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Hours upon hours, he would spend, gaining points to maximize his lives so he could beat the final boss. 

My mother has a passion as well: books. I can conservatively estimate that she has read 53579036 books in her lifetime. (While I enjoy reading, I am the type where I read the same book many times. My copy of “The Fault in Our Stars” is beginning to fall apart at the binding.)

Most of my friends, I can name each of their passion. “This friend loves cats. That friend loves to promote local businesses. This cousin is obsessed with cars.” On and on. 

By contrast, I am a dabbler. I try many different things, only to give them up or lose interest. Sometimes I decide it’s too hard; other times, someone will make a comment that will “steal the joy” out of the passion. Other times, I just lose interest. 

Marie Kondo has a philosophy to keep things in your life that “spark joy.” I have the “spark”...but passion is like a burn. And that, my friends, is what I lack so many times. 

How do I generate passion? I have no idea. 

And understand: my life isn’t horrible by any metric. I have great friends and family, a decent job. While I’m not a millionaire, I have what I need. But that “passion” hasn’t clicked...yet. 

Hopefully, it will.