I am lucky enough to have several women in my life who live with passion. I’m not sure that they’d be able to pick just one thing as their “passion” but, what they do, they do with an intensity, commitment, and joy that is pure magic.
I’m not one of those women.
I have many interests but no real passion. I enjoy art, but I’m not a natural artist. I love to get lost in a good book, but can reading really be a passion, or is it more of enjoyable pastime? I like to ride my bike, but not the way my husband does: I like working up a sweat cruising around the bay… but it’s really the people-watching and the enjoyment of looking at beautiful homes and scenery that I’m after. I’m happy with 20 – 25 miles; he isn’t satisfied with fewer than 60. We’ve talked about getting kayaks, and I think that would be a fun sport/hobby, but I’m not sure I’ll find my passion there.
I wonder if actively searching for a passion is a fool’s errand? It seems that a true passion is something that has been dreamed about, and focused on, since early on, or at least well before the age of retirement. Or, maybe, a passion is something that suddenly grabs ahold of someone when they are busy doing something else (such as discovering, and getting deeply involved, in a cause that speaks to your soul).
So, while I’m waiting and hoping for my passion to grab ahold of my heart and shake up my world, there are many enjoyable “passionettes” out there to explore. Even if nothing ever comes along that I would call a true passion, I’ll still be having a great time and, I hope, finding ways to challenge myself mentally or physically, or both.
Do you have a true passion (or passions)? If so, how do you feel when you can devote all of your energy to it? If not, are you at least making the time to do the things that you love?
Retirementally Challenged 