Living Your Life with Passion
It’s a tough world that we live in. A beautiful and tough world. We live in a society whose intrinsic values focus on the self. You are told what to buy, what to believe, who you ought to be, what “happiness” is…as if any of us really knows what that means. Most of the conversations I have with people center themselves around that idea that we are supposed to be living a productive life with purpose and meaning. Easier said than done right?
I often ask, “Well what is it that you want to do?”
In turn, I often hear, “I want to help people,” or every once in a while, “I want to change the world,” or usually, “I want to be fabulous,” yet underlying everything that I hear…”I just want to be happy.”
“Aren’t you happy now?”
“Well…I don’t know,” is usually what I hear back.
It’s a hard question to answer. I struggle with it myself. The problem is, is that people often mistake happiness as an arrival. Something that is to be a constant once you get there…like a Disney movie.
I hope that I don’t have to say the obvious here, but in case I do…when was the last time you made out with a frog to find that you’ve actually landed yourself a lusciously handsome man who is just the right height, physically able, financially secure, whose net worth could compete with the likes of Donald Trump’s, and most of all, has nothing better to do in the world but live happily ever after with you. Yes you. Probably a recent college graduate, or a divorcee, or a whatever you would like to identify yourself as, who has been waiting his or her whole life for this very moment. You have arrived.
What’s next? Disney never tells you what happens AFTER the fade away. I suppose that moment of bliss should last forever. Insert my stating the obvious: This doesn’t exist. It can’t exist. We as humans don’t exist this way. My point in even mentioning this is that, even if all of our struggles, worries, problems, etc., magically disappeared…there is still the question of what lies after.
Many people take this realist approach to heart and opt to spend their time becoming a doctor or a lawyer so they never have to worry about the money, the job, the house, the latest smart phone, the spring break in Cancun. They’re going to live productive lives with jobs that have a very clearly outlined place in society. Where’s the purpose and meaning though? Maybe you really like working 80 hour days, being on call all day for at least 4 days a week, “helping” people. I’m certainly not going to say that doctors and lawyers are a joke, because there are many people out there who are good at and love doing those very things. But for the rest of us, this mentality presents us with its own challenges.
For the creative thinkers of the world who watch Glee and think, “I love to perform, so I going to do it. This is what I was born to do.” I will smile and nod approvingly…primarily so that I don’t have to engage any further in the conversation. If you think about it, every lead character on the show wants to be famous. What about all the kids in all the other Glee clubs from all the other schools who also want to be the next Lady Gaga or Idina Menzel?
I would never say that it is wrong to aspire to leave your hometown and go out into the world pursuing what you love (all this coming from someone who went to school for a degree in music). I would argue that, while incredibly noble and brave, this mindset is very close-minded and dangerous. I truly believe in optimism and won’t take the time to discuss its merits, but you and I as people are so much more in this world than a fixed and rigid idea of who we believe and have been told we are supposed to be.
I am not going to tell you that you can’t be a star.
I am here to tell you that you are already a star. You have everything you need to be who and what you are at its best already. Whatever life situation you are finding yourself in, you are still alive and a part of this world—that in and of itself speaks volumes.
I would be far more willing to engage a discussion further with someone who tells me, “Performing is what I love, so that is why I do it.” Because who knows where it will take you? Who knows what life has in store for any of us in the future? If life takes away your chance at becoming a big shot, who are you then? Aren’t you still the you that the rest of us are so blessed to know?
To anyone out there who is wading around in the world looking for their meaning and purpose, I say stop worrying about it. Leave it alone, shut it down, stop. You already have your purpose and your meaning…you already are productive simply by being you. If you are passionate about something…anything…keep your passion for it alive and just be you. If you are passionate about anything, then you are indeed living a productive life with meaning and purpose. Let it take you where it will. Don’t waste your life waiting to arrive, because you are already there.
Dustin Paugh
touchemag.com blogger
Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.