How To Develop Passion

Not "Find" or "Discover" It

It seems that nowadays, the only aspect of life where we still leave a possibility for passion are romantic relationships. And it’s questionable if it’s even real passion that people are talking about when putting it in the context of romantic relationships. I would say that most are confusing it with lust.

As if passion wasn’t possible in every single aspect of one’s life.

As if passion towards life itself wasn’t the highest form of passion.

I’ve never seen a person who was passionate about someone or something that wasn’t passionate about life as a whole.

Which passion comes first? Is it passion towards a specific person or thing, or passion towards life? Which kind of passion gives birth to the other kind?

I’m not sure, but I want to believe that it is out of passion towards someone or something that our passion for life emerges. If that’s true, it means that we can do something about achieving passion for life.

And this brings me to my point: passion doesn’t fall from the sky, it’s not found or discovered.

Passion is not something that exists on its own and is sustained by itself.

Passion is developed. Passion requires commitment. And it takes courage to make a commitment.

And even though I want to talk about passion towards anything, it is precisely romantic passion that I feel we can learn from the most.

When it comes to passion for another person, it can only exist in its full capacity when you are ready to make a commitment. When you are ready to give yourself fully to another person, to let your guard down and remove all your barriers. And this is why true romantic passion is rare. Because it exposes you to the possibility of having your heart broken and being crushed. This is why courage is a necessary ingredient for passion.

But it is no different when it comes to passion towards anything in your life.

Passion towards any activity or any pursuit requires from you the same commitment that passion for another person does. And it exposes you to the same danger.

You know that feeling when you realize you really like someone, and as much as it is a beautiful feeling, it is also terrifying, and you are afraid to admit to yourself that you actually care?

It is the same with any activity or goal that you would want to pursue. If you admit that you care about it, you leave yourself open to disappointment and even heartbreak.

That’s why you see people downgrade something that they care about and say that it’s just a hobby, it’s just a pass time activity. They fear admitting that they care about it. You see people engaging in different activities, but you rarely see someone who is fully invested in something. You rarely see a person with fire in their eyes.

And I don’t blame those people.

Most of us were told at some point in our lives, and it’s usually very early on, that we should go through life like investors. We are taught to diversify the portfolio of our heart and soul.

Put some of it here and some of it there. This way, you will never be broken. If you lose on one investment, you will make it up by gaining on the other one.

But it seems they forgot that being human is to risk being broken, and usually to be broken at some point.

They forgot to tell us, because they didn’t know it themselves, that by diversifying your heart and soul you are just squandering them. There is nothing to be gained by splitting them into fractions.

They didn’t know that the only way to gain something of true value in life, that is, to experience the bliss and beauty possible in this human existence, is to be willing to give your whole self to someone or something.

That is why passion isn’t something you find or discover.

Sure, some people, it seems, were "given" a passion. They couldn’t help but follow it.

But to believe this would be to discredit them. It would be to deny their courage and ignore the fact that they didn't diversify their heart and soul but gave them fully.

Because, whether one "finds" their passion at 5 years old or starts developing it at 45, the requirements are the same. Every day, every hour, one must renew one’s commitment. One must, every day, as if it was the first day, decide to give one’s full self. One must decide not to play the games of calculation and diversification with one’s soul, but to offer it in its entirety and risk being broken. No matter how terrifying it is, one must risk everything so that one may keep one’s passion alive and burning. Passion towards someone or something, out of which the passion for life as a whole emerges.

I believe that Kierkegaard was right when he said that

“Courage is life's only measure.”

Thank you for reading.

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