The first time I felt my daughter move when I was pregnant with her seemed like someone sprinting in my stomach. I couldn’t believe it. I had heard the first time you recognize your baby moving feels like butterfly wings, or a faint rustle, or like leaves floating on the wind. Imagine my surprise when the first thing I felt seemed to be a track star.
Fastfoward 15 years, and my daughter still loves to run. When she was in elementary school, she ran for the sheer joy of it. She used to chase after cars, run through the backyard, and generally take off at racing speed whenever the whim struck her. Now in high school, she runs cross country and track.
If you were to ask her if she is passionate about running, she would probably respond in the negative. I would disagree. What I realize about her that she hasn’t discovered yet is that running is simply a part of her. She doesn’t feel passionate about it, because she can’t imagine life without it in some form.
My son, on the other hand, didn’t amaze me with his in utero running. His in utero dancing, however, happened so frequently that one day, late in pregnancy, I had to stop teaching a class so my students could gather close to watch my stomach gyrating.
Fastfoward 13 years, and my son does enjoy dancing, but he loves music. I don’t think he was so much dancing for the sake of dance, in the womb, as he was enjoying the music he created in his head so that it overtook his body. At an early age, kindergarten I think, he took drum lessons, and he engaged his whole body in his practice. And today, he plays multiple instruments; he loves anything you can beat or strum.
Our whole family talks about how passionate my son is about music, but he doesn’t recognize it. He avows that he is NOT passionate about music – says the boy who plays several instruments, takes music lessons, and plays in multiple bands and orchestras. Like his sister, I don’t think he sees his passion because it is too much a part of him to imagine existing without it.
Both of my kids have other things that they will tell you they are passionate about. My daughter would list art and film (broadly, as any sort of motion or still media) as some of her passions. My son would say sports and shoes (not just amassing them, but styles, brands, materials, icons, and customizing them).
My children, like most of us, recognize some of their passions but not others. When you have a passion, however, you follow it, whether intentionally or not, or even consciously or not.
What are your passions? Do you know? If you don’t, ask people who know you well, and I bet they will begin to regale you with things you never recognized in yourself. Even if you think you know all of your passions, I recommend talking with your tribe, anyway. I’m sure you’ll learn something new.
Please comment below to share your passions. And if you need some help discovering and developing your passions, please contact me for 1:1 coaching.
If you like what you read and think others will, too, please share.