Day 273

I've been thinking a lot lately about 'passion.' People around me seem to have passion for interesting things and something I've noticed is their passion, for the most part, doesn't change. I'm a little unnerved by this because my life experience has been marked by a set of passions, one after another. For example, I have been a passionate musician, singer, cook, lover, wife, mother, list maker, organizer, film maker, nail artist, writer, manager and coach. I've been passionate in the past about eating right and had a love and passion for exercise. Yet, here I am, in 2014, 54 years-old, almost 55, and what is my passion? If I am honest with myself, my current passion is for eating whatever I want and sitting on my ass! And no, that isn't going to remain my passion forever!

So, all that to say this, I am passionate about life. What you 'do' is the reflection of your passion and what I 'do' is live. We won't compare lives because I don't need my life 'validated' in any way to know that it's good. I don't have anything to prove. I just want to live, love and be loved by the people in my life. Interestingly enough, I believe I am loved by people who know me and that's good enough for me.

As a manager with 27 years with my company and over 35 years of business experience, I am frequently called upon to mentor or coach developing leaders. This is a passion that I really never thought I'd enjoy. For the most part, I probably learn more from coaching/mentoring people than they learn from me, but what I have noticed is those who are focused and know what they want out of life seem to enjoy a level path to the results they desire. People like me; those who are all over the place, may struggle to feel successful. I know now that there are many reasons why a person may lack focus; fear, ego and depression are top of the list. So, I'm leaning to take a cue from the success stories around me and narrow my focus. Although I don't deal with depression, I am a person with many fears and yes, an ego, just like other human beings. I'm still all of the things that I listed in the first paragraph of this blog posting, but I'm learning to become more focused on what really matters, right now and that it's okay when my life demands an adjustment.

It is sometimes difficult to be honest with myself, so writing this blog is helpful, regardless of whether anyone reads it or not. I'm all about the stories of life and this blog helps me remember that I'm living something unique and special every day. Thanks for checking up on me. I will be back tomorrow and maybe I'll have great news about a new passion for exercise. Until then, Godspeed, Voyagers!!