How's That Passion Thing Workin' Out For Ya?

May 25, 2012


You might recall how back in January I chose “passion” as my word of the year, and “nourish” as a secondary word/focus. Since then, I haven’t said one word about the word of the year on this blog…not one. (I did mention “nourish” in Beyond the Junk Food of Life.) So, you might be thinking, when you’re not busy pondering much more important matters, I wonder how Kathy is doing with her quest for passion in 2012? (Of course you’re not—you have your own life to live and possibly even your own word of the year to ponder—but humor me, people.)

I’ll tell you how I’m doing…what was my word of the year again?

Yup. Haven’t paid one bit of attention to the concept after the initial excitement of choosing the word. Am I afraid of it? Unsure where to start? Too busy with daily life to ponder what passion means to me and how to get more of it in my life? Probably a little of all those things. I’ve done a few things that I feel passionate about—rode and played with Tank, traveled, took an art class—but I haven’t connected passion with any of those things.  I haven’t let it motivate me or keep me going when I wanted to quit. I haven’t allowed it to flow through me the way I wanted to.

So. What now? Well, I have half a year left—I mean to make the most of it. I’ll start asking myself what I feel passion for, or even how I can ignite passion about some of my less-exciting everyday activities. With a little more thoughtfulness and imagination, the second half of 2012 may turn out to be more exciting (in a good way) than the first half. That’s one of the beauties of life: every day you can start over, take one more baby step towards the life you want to lead.

If you chose a word of the year, how has it influenced you so far? And if you didn't, has your year seemed to have any kind of theme?

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12 comments

  1. Funny you mention this, I was wondering what my word was a few days ago. One was revel. Yeah, I've been reveling alright. We just won't discuss in what I might have been reveling in with your polite readers. There was another word I chose too, but it escapes me at the moment.

    I should have chosen fly or light so that I could rise above this plodding, numbing pace that my technological nightmare has set for me.

    But there's always the second half of the year. Yay.

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  2. I've never chosen a word of the year, but if I had to figure out a theme for the year, it might be travel, because we're doing a lot more traveling this year. I hope you're able to add passion to the second half of the year.

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  3. Laure--Let's just draw the curtain over the first five months of the year and move on, shall we? :)

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  4. Cheryl--Lucky you to have travel for a theme! Where are you going next?

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  5. Hi Kathy! I don't have a word for the year ... maybe next year. But as I read your awesome post, I asked, what am I passionate about, and right away I had an answer ... Early Oregon history and my Sepia Saturday posts. The other thing is that we will be traveling more this summer and I can't wait to take lots of pictures, because that is another one of my passions (new places and taking photos).

    Keep up the great life you are living and new passions will form!

    Hugs,

    Kathy M.

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  6. I like the idea of choosing a word at the beginning of the year and letting it guide you in your work and even daily life. I don't choose a word but I always have lots of ideas in the back of my mind about what I want to do or accomplish and have to say I've not put much effort forth on doing those things--the daily business of living sometimes gets in the way of things! :) Still--more than half a year left to go and you never know what you'll achieve!

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  7. Kathy--Your passions show up frequently on your blog--I'm glad you've got plans this summer to pursue at least one of them. Fresh input feeds passion!

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  8. Danielle--Yup, that daily living stuff gets in the way, doesn't it? My goal is to infuse that daily living with some passion, so I don't rush through the "dailiness" to get to the passion!

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  9. I don't normally choose a word, make any resolutions or anything else. The one time I did I forgot all about it.

    That would be an interesting workbook - how to rev up your passion for whatever you are interested in. For one, I think groups help like going for a ride with Tank and another riding friend. The art classes help me keep my passion going unless I over do with them.
    For another, it helps when the people you care about such as husbands and kids care enough to ask you ow you are doing or actively encourage you in your endeavors. I think having a list (or workbook) that helps us keep our passions foremost through the year would really help. Otherwise as you say, they seem to get swallowed up in the everyday stuff and with the passage of time and we lose sight of them.
    Have you ever been to Kazumiwannabe's blog? She mixes her passions for reading and painting by drawing the covers of the books she reads. Take a look here: http://kazumiwannabe.blogspot.com/ and see.

    I wonder what others do to keep the passion alive.

    This was a fun to read but great post.

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  10. Thanks, Timaree. You're right--connecting with others while pursuing passions keeps those passions stoked.

    No, I haven't been to that blog--I'll check it out. It sounds really cool. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. Our next trip actually doesn't excite me too much - we're going to Black Mesa, which is in the panhandle of Oklahoma and it's also the highest point in the state. Our son and daughter-in-law are meeting us there along with her family. Some of us will be climbing Black Mesa (and some of us won't!). I hope to do some sketching. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone, just not to the heat and the climb. Then we're heading to Red River New Mexico for a couple of days. It's a pretty short trip.

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  12. Black Mesa is a romantic-sounding name, but I don't blame you for not being enthusiastic about a hot climb. Sounds like a good place to sketch, though. I've only been to Santa Fe, NM (which I loved and which I might try to talk Laure into doing as an Imaginary Trip!)and I know it gets HOT there in summer.

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