What is the THING, or if you are lucky THINGS, you love to do.Is it something physical, like running or swimming? Or are you an artist? Someone who uses her hands or creativity to craft, build, create music, or follow some other artistic pursuit? Or is your thing more cerebral, like writing, blogging, or reading?
Whatever it is, consider yourself lucky if you have some pursuit that pulls you in and that makes you lose all sense of time when you’re doing it. But if you are passionate about your pursuit you also run the risk of taking it too seriously. By that I mean forgetting how good it feels to do what you love and focusing instead on what your passion can do for you.
Before you know it doing what you love isn’t enough. You want results! But along the way you may notice you’re not having As much fun as you used to.
As an example, I love writing, but realized I had decided that it only mattered when the activities I did “counted”. I was punishing myself when I didn’t think my writing was leading toward a bigger goal and doing things I didn’t like because I thought they would.
Though my story is specific to my passion, I think others who have a THING will identify with my story. If you have been losing interest in your passion you may just be focusing on the wrong things. You can read my whole story on Medium Math for Writers: How to Suck the Joy Out of Writing by Turning Passion into Point Values.
Stay passionate!
I love my work as I blog and do copywriting for companies. But I do find as Michelle said, that blogging can lose its sparkle if you focus too much on stats.
You just have to do what you love and not compare yourself to others. #MMBC.
Sometimes I think I focus on the stats as a way to procrastinate!
I agree that my love for writing can lose steam when I get bogged down with worrying over views and such like that. I got into blogging because I felt this surge to express myself and I love writing/blogging. But then I found myself getting wrapped up in page views and google stats and it sucked all the fun out of it for me. It’s always good to remember why you do what you do. Don’t forget the passion! #MMBC
Sometimes I think it seems easier to get caught up in the numbers because at least it’s tangible. It can be hard to quantify joy.
Math for Writers–that makes me cringe! lol. I hated math throughout school, and to this day! Writing is my “thing” although I enjoy all forms of creativity. I think if we can do what we love for a living, that’s amazing, but it’s also a gift to be able to enjoy our passions on the side. 🙂