Thursday, December 28, 2017

Passionate about avoiding passion.


“Passion” has become one of those words you can hardly avoid. Barely a day goes by that you don’t hear someone asking someone (sometimes you), “What are you passionate about?”
We’re encouraged to “follow our passions” and led to believe that life is not worth living if we’re not “passionate” about something.
The more I think about it, the more I’ve come to realize that the only thing I’m passionate about is not being passionate.
What’s the point of believing you are that intensely enthusiastic about something? About anything? Will you enjoy it more? Will you achieve more? Will it hold your interest any longer?
I doubt it. It seems unlikely you are “passionate” about the same things you were “passionate” about, say, a decade ago. Or even last year.
To my way of thinking, if you can’t get up the gumption to do what you want or like to do without whipping yourself into a passion, why bother? If you want to do something (as a famous maker of footwear for “passionate” runners used to say), just do it.
I like to write. I enjoy the time I spend writing. I try to write well, and work at doing so.
But I can’t say I’m “passionate” about it. I feel no need to work myself into a frenzy before stringing words together, nor do I feel I’m a failure if I decide to trim my toenails one day rather than whip out a sonnet.
 Maybe I’m just lazy. Apathetic. Ambivalent. Or dull. But it could be that I favor that old nugget of wisdom from the Greek poet Hesiod: “Moderation in all things is the best policy.”
So, I ask you: What are you moderate about?


11 comments:

  1. I knew there was a reason I liked you. I've always found passion to be fleeting and a bit neurotic. I can be very interested in one thing for a while and something else entirely soon after. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone in my often dispassionate nature.

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    1. Thanks, Neils. Together, we can work to bring a calmer, more dispassionate approach to writing. And life.

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  2. I'm passionate about your blog about being moderate. And I couldn't agree with you more about the overuse of the word "passionate."

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  3. I am a passionate writer. I can't not write. I am driven. If I were a publisher and/or agent, I'd be looking for people on fire and enthusiastic about their work. My fire drives me to write and to do the good work, very day. I love the word passion.

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    1. Well, it takes all kinds. I can only imagine what I might have accomplished had I been "passionate" instead of such a dolt.

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  4. I am moderate about housework and shopping and the mundanities of life. But never, ever about my lifework.

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  5. It reminds me of that old Schlitz beer commercial: "Go for the gusto" Just a catchy phrase that rather demeans the true nature of the word. Or maybe they see Americans as apathetic and wanting to be pumped up about something. Obviously, they haven't been on Facebook.

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    1. Thanks, Vicky. I confess I haven't been on Facebook so I'll take your word for it.

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  6. Thanks Rod. And I mean that with all sincerity though I sound a little dispassionate about everything anymore. Good to know I’m not alone.

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