Passion

The theme of my week is Passion. Not my choice, but it reared up and smacked me in the face a couple of different ways this week. How strange. I've been going through my yearly life crisis recently. It happens every year around my birthday. You know what I'm talking about - that annual "State-of-the-Union" you go through where you have to take a step back and assess how far you've come since the last time you checked. Then, decisions must be made on new focus areas and layout a plan to get there. A few years ago these episodes would result in a change in job, moving apartments, joining the Marines. (I didn't, by the way, end up joining.) I'm trying to learn how to deal with these urges with a little more finesse. M will be happy to hear that, I'm sure. :-)

So, how does passion fit in to all this? Well, earlier this week I attended a conference presented by Neal Whitten. His presentation touched on lots of subjects. Mostly he gave lots of best practices on how to be a good project manager. His closing topic talked about how almost everything has a greater chance of failure unless you have passion to see it through. You must have the inner will to make it happen. It is key to success.

Today, I found a copy of the LTF magazine in the mailbox. I opened it up to the cover story and - BAM - a guy talking about the importance of finding passion in life to create balance. People seek balance. The only way to achieve success in life is through passion and balance.

And finally - Wednesday. Or, Ash Wednesday. The beginning of Lent - a liturgical season finishing with the Passion. Is this some kind of weird coincidence?

So, what exactly is passion? Google defines it as (edited a bit - click the link if you *need* to see the original - trying to keep the search engines in check here):

• strong feeling or emotion
• heat: the trait of being intensely emotional
• rage: something that is desired intensely; "his rage for fame destroyed him"
• mania: an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action
• love: any object of warm affection or devotion
• the suffering of Jesus at the crucifixion

Is passion a character trait which results in a high level of energy applied to everything you do? Does passion exist in all of us? Where is my passion? What am I passionate about? How do I ignite a passionate response in my life? How do I teach my son to be passionate?

I went on a tempo run tonight - a short 40 minutes. Spring is in the air - it was nearly 80*. The sky was completely clear. The moon looked like a large grinning smile hanging over my head, egging me on - "Go on, you only get to run twice a week now - let 'er rip". During the run, I decided that I must be passionate about triathlon if I will succeed in June. I've now heard stories of at least 3 people claimed by the BSLT course in past years. Like seriously "claimed" - stories of 2 month hospital stays, ambulance rides, the works. Not that I doubt those folks were passionate - but, for me it will be the difference on the road to success. I will passionately research hydration and nutrition information to fuel my body - I'll train passionately with the end in mind - I'll plan for success.

Life balance is something different. I'm beginning to question if I'm really passionate about what I do on a daily basis - you know "work" - the stuff that I decide to spend time on between training. ;-) Part of me thinks that if I'm asking the question - then something must be wrong. I'm going to keep thinking on this for a while. 30 is a bit of a wake up call - I don't really want to spend any more time on things that, at the end of the day, I'm really not passionate about. Because, I am a passionate person and in the end - that would be a waste.

See ya out there...