Living with no passion

“Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.”— Henri Frederic Amiel “There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or […]

“Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.”— Henri Frederic Amiel

“There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson.” — Anthony Robbins

We can go on and on with famous quotes on the need to have a life full of passion in order to achieve greatness. But in spite of how relevant this is to our existence, there are many who still carry on with no passion at all, just taking on every and anything that comes their way.

They are here today and there tomorrow with no fixed agenda, goal or destination or path which leads their desires aright.

To live like this many like Isi Udu said, is not to live at all. “As a twenty year-old I have my whole life ahead of me. Now is the time I need to make the most of it and in doing so I should have identified the things that I like to do and those that I want to pursue and make a life out of. The only way they can come through is if I have the passion to pursue them and see that they come to fruition. At the moment I am taking events management classes for two weeks.

The recent accounting graduate said, “It started off for me as a hobby and when I am around events I see things that I can do differently and areas I can harness and make unique to me. The passion I have to fulfill this dream is what has pushed me to educate myself better and start my own practice only a week after I started the training. I have organised three birthday events already and a naming ceremony.”

In the same light, Mr. Philip Ngbeze says that living without a passion is to be alive but to be dead. “Anybody who is alive without a passion for something is like a moving corpse he said because such a one is absolutely empty. He has nothing to offer to himself, let alone the world,” the fabric trader said.

Passion is what drives one to do things and make progress in the process of doing them. But there are people who don’t have such enthusiasms. They don’t see the need to have burning desires when they have no means of achieving their goals.

“I have tried (and with no guilty feeling to myself) to do a couple of things here and there but there is always the human factor. I need to give a bribe sometimes even to get payment for a job I have done. There is always the Nigerian factor to frustrate the efforts. It’s hard to maintain a passion in such an environment that does not practically encourage growth for the young and upcoming who have no connections.”

We all have a passion and can live a fulfilled life if we know exactly what this passion is and what we need to do to set it burning. In all of this we need to bear in mind that money is not what defines success but when your desires or passions are fulfilled the success is likely to follow.

There are several ways to look for and find your passion. You can discover it by quizzing yourself with a few basic questions.

Jewelry and hat maker, in Garki Market, Felicia Ajayi offers some tips which worked for her.  “I started by asking myself what I loved and enjoyed doing the most. My motivation was first of all to be busy and productive. Money was very secondary at the time. As they say, the simplest answer is usually the correct one. Arts and craft was what immediately came to my mind. So I thought through it and weighed all the options I had and eventually settled for jewelry and hat making. Gradually I am transferring my crafts to other areas like clothing, beddings and furniture.”

“If after asking yourself this and no answer readily comes to mind, you need to have a rethink and stop living aloof. It is one thing to have a passion and not to be able to actualise it. It is a completely different thing not to have one at all; this is no living.”

As soon as you know your passion, begin a plan for your goals and keep working at it. If you can, dedicate certain times of the day to working on them and be committed to your commitment whilst striking a balance with the other areas of your life. Finance is also important because you’ll need it to support your passion until it starts supporting you.