Tuesday, September 27, 2005

What are your passions?

Some of mine are writing, music and photography.

What are yours? And what are you doing to make sure you pursue them? What are your obstacles? Do you have goals for your passions?

I have dreams of other passions, but in some cases feel like I am swinging blindly at life. It's as though I'm trying to hit a pinata but the stick is too short and I'm turned the wrong way. I simply am not connecting on those situations. And it leaves me feeling empty and wasted.

Does that resonate with you? Tell me about it.

In my case, those missing pieces mostly involve relationships. Basically I don't have any family, but for an aunt and a couple of uncles in Missouri and some cousins scattered across the country. It's a huge deal for us to have any connection.

I had a brief marriage, years and years ago. No children. In college, I was the roommate "most likely" to have a station wagon full of kids. (This was pre-minivan days. Today it would be "soccer mom.") I was the birthday-cake maker, the supper-cooker and the house fixer-upper.

But my own family? It never happened. Too many missed opportunities, too much drive to be independent -- whatever.

I'm not particularly looking for a long-term relationship at this point in life and there aren't many people I've met that I could tolerate being close to long term. There are many I have met I know I would probably kill within a month. In some cases, I am sure I'd get off with a warning not to do it again.

I have several friends who have been good, close friends for 30, 40 years or more. Those people are rare treasures, true gems. I never would have made it this far without them. But they, too, are scattered across the world.

This idea of connections, of passions, will be my focus for fall. That will be reflected here in my blog. I'm taking a turn away from political topics. I'll be talking more about the common table, about meaningful conversations, about relationships. That's really what my blog was intended to focus on all along.

The cooler months are a great time to cook for one another and break bread together. Stay tuned for more.

And meanwhile, tell me about your passions and how they fit into your life. What are you wanting to add? What works? What doesn't? What could make it work?

10 comments:

SBB said...

Writing. And photography. But mostly writing. It's what I do the most. I think I would like to learn to draw or paint, but I've never had time to do that. Well, I won't take time away from the other two to pursue that.

Anonymous said...

I have a list of things I want to do before I die, and this post made me go back and take a hard look at it. It seems most of the things on my list have to do with traveling and seeing something new or writing. I would have to say traveling and writing are my biggest passions.

Mark said...

Barbeque and writing. Both of which I am not very good at. Or at least I am not satisfied with.

Erudite Redneck said...

I think I've lost my passion. I'm stuck on "exist" mode.

--ER

Trixie said...

That's kind of the point of the question, E.R. I think too many of us are walking through the world, stuck in "exist mode" instead of fully pursuing the passions that make each of us uniquely who we are.
I have observed you when you had passions you were pursuing, but I want to draw from you what YOU identify as those passions, and find out what is blocking you (and by extension, all of us) from following them.

So cough it up, boy.

Erudite Redneck said...

Cold hard distractions life.

Chopping off fingers.

Getting bitten by spiders.

Leaks under the sink.

Cat crapping on a 51-year-old vintage copy of the National Police Gazette in my office floor because he mistook my office floor for a litter box, his own litter box door having accidentally shut, and he's not bright enough to figure it out, which means maybe he needs a short yellow litterbox.

Things like that.

--ER

Trixie said...

Maybe the cat is trying to train the human to file papers in places other than the floor?

Mark said...

Touche' Trixie!

Trixie said...

Rebel, I love your answer. THAT is passion!

Michelle said...

What an awesome post Trixie. I wish I had read this sooner.

Passion, I think, for me, is photography and music. The pictures help me to capture just what RebelAngel described. It holds it fast and close, when memory might fade. The music works the same. A song can bring back a million words and moments.

Writing was once a passion. And as your post asks...maybe that is what I need to find again.

Relationships...are elusive. I am not sure about that one.