Doing stuff is fun. Really through happenstance I have had an eventful two weeks; because of that it’s been a great two weeks. I’ve had 3 parties/get togethers at my house, played softball, attended A&M games, played football, taught Sunday school, done salsa lessons, started documenting my dreams, and done Crossfit. This weekend I’m going rock climbing, A&M game, Sunday School, and going to try and ride a motorcycle.
I find it enjoyable to try out activities and meet new people. I enjoy gaining a new experience and it’s interesting meeting the different kinds of people that do different activities. In fact I would say another one of my hobbies is understanding what makes people tick. I also hope that through my adventures that I will find something I am truly passionate about. Part of me though is starting to think that my passion is new experiences. I enjoy Crossfit because it allows me to be prepared to do any type of physical activity. I enjoy feeling in shape. Toastmaster’s develops a skill that serves me both personally and professionally. The activities I stick with tend to benefit me in multiple ways and better enable me to get good at multiple things.
Obviously, the advantage to this is that I get to meet lots of different people. Just this fact alone has dramatically changed who I am. We grow up with a certain understanding of how things work. You don’t even realize what you believe until you see that someone does something else differently than you do. And it’s an amazing experience to break down barriers that don’t really exist. It also strengthens for you the things that do matter. I also find that in today’s society the people that do best are those that can relate to the most people. That comes through experience.
The biggest disadvantage I have noted is that I don’t become truly excellent at anything. I enjoy rock climbing, but it’s not something I want to do 5 or 6 times a week. Which is what it takes to become excellent, I’m up to the 5.9 or 5.10 range in difficulty, but my learning curve has flattened out. Steady improvement is going to come, but I don’t forsee myself getting to 5.12 or above any time soon. Is that so bad? For me it’s not. I think it’s important to give your all in the moment, but some people also want to hone a particular skill. My grandfather is an excellent carpenter because he’s put in countless hours doing it. I can’t achieve that without focus.
So I still haven’t found out what I’m passionate about, but perhaps I’m passionate about variety. Maybe what I find most exciting is meeting new people and doing new things. I’m not sure, but if you have a great activity you think I would enjoy then let me know. I’m always open to ideas.
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This is my favorite one of your posts. The last couple weeks were indeed great fun. Felt like the old days with everyone together during whatever free time we had. And it was really nice to have house parties--way more fun than yelling at each other over the roar of a bar. As always you were an excellent host.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you should label variety or the quest for new experiences your passion. That is actually a psychological trait that rises throughout adolesence and very early adulthood and then steadily declines for the rest of the lifespan. But I think it's nice you find enjoyment in so many activities now; I myself feel rather limited. I already feel like everything has been overdone. But that's okay, because I don't think activities or hobbies are really the kind of things that produce passion in a person. Passion is an intangible concept and must therefore apply to intangible values. I don't think LeBron James' passion is basketball--I think his passions are competition and fame, and basketball is just the medium through which he realizes those passions.
I think your passion is being encyclopedic. Rather than putting all your eggs in one or two baskets, you take it upon yourself to be a well-rounded Renaissance Man. I don't think it's as much about newness as it is about comprehensiveness. But perhaps I'm wrong on this if you feel some kind of void in your life.
My primary passion has always been passion itself. I'd have troubly accurately explaining that in this brief comment, but I think it breaks down into several categories: the nature and experience of emotion, the pursuit and realization of love, the nature and manifestation of desire, the maintenance of honor, etc. I dunno. Sounds like we may actually be in the same boat where we just are enamored with the idea of passion. This is in fact probably the very bold heading that all of my more acute ideas/convictions/behaviors/goals fall under. Therefore, it is actually making me very confused to write about "passion" directly; it's kind of like if an alien asked me to explain "the world." Where do I begin?
I just get into these stream of consciousness responses and make association after association between my thoughts that inevitably lead to obscure tangents. I will stop myself for now. Hopefully some of this was thought provoking and had some relevance to your post.
"Rather than putting all your eggs in one or two baskets, you take it upon yourself to be a well-rounded Renaissance Man. I don't think it's as much about newness as it is about comprehensiveness.
ReplyDeleteSounds like we may actually be in the same boat where we just are enamored with the idea of passion."
I agree with these statements very whole heartedly. You're prose are much more eloquent then mine. I do often find myself trying to make sense of everything in the world, study it and understand it. And in your blog post I think you are right about the mental burden of intelligence. Ignorance is bliss, because thought merely leads to more questions and less answers. I wonder what true success will mean for me since I am pulled away from intent focus, but rather to discover more about a new project or new curiousity.
My blog was actually started as a way to increase my writing skill which I find severely lacking. It's also serves as a way to stay accountable to goals I have set.