Mom to Mom: Find your passion ... and then figure out what to do with it
Have you found your passion in life? Maybe you’re a young parent, in the throes of diapers and 2 a.m. feedings and you don’t care what your passion is right now because you just need to sleep more than three hours a night and OMG why is the baby crying again!?
But I’m past that stage (believe me – it does end, I promise), in my 40s, and I have been working on rediscovering my passion. Has it changed since I was a fresh-faced 20-something? Nope. It hasn’t, though it would be OK if it had. We all change, and parenthood definitely changes us. But my passion has been and still is words.
Finding your passion might be simple for some, but for others it might be more difficult. At first, I thought my passion was reading. But then, I’m a writer – so writing. But I was trying to dig into the why of it. I did all kinds of reading and writing, but I’m also that weirdo who reads the dictionary. For fun. I think the thesaurus is the most remarkable book ever and I love learning the meaning behind a word.
At the base of it, I adore words. All the words. My kids learn Latin and Greek root words at school and I could discuss roots like “hydro” and “pent” for hours. (Maybe this column is just showing off my geekery.) I discovered this as my passion around the time I got married, 20 years ago.
Have you dug into why you like what you like? Do you like flowers and vegetables because you love to garden? Do you fawn over the aisles at Michael’s because you love paper, or maybe because you love to create things with it? Are you always taking apart clocks and washing machines because it’s fun or because you love to get to the root of why they’re not working anymore? Maybe you’re passionate about problem-solving. (That would be my husband’s passion.)
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Your passion can stem from anything and come from anywhere. What do you do when you find this passion? You follow it. Maybe as a hobby and a way to relax, or maybe you can use it in your career. My husband is a master problem-solver for the company he works for. I turned my love of words into a business.
What will you do with your passion?
Allison Wells is a wife, mother of four, and an award-winning author. She's Team Oxford Comma and her motto is "Life is short, eat the Oreos." Find her online at allisonwellswrites.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Mom to Mom: Find your passion ... then figure out what to do with it
