Do you have a passion?

Sleepy

The classic piece of advice to a young person wondering what to do with themselves in life is always to "find something you love doing and find someone to pay you to do it" but, despite this being so obviously the key to a happy life (and something I really wish for my kids), most of us end up doing fairly humdrum jobs to support our ordinary lives.

While I've had many hobbies and interests over the years, my attention has never really stayed with any of them. Even if you simply graphed my posts on boards you'd see trends waxing and waning in Fitness, Photography, Politics, Films, TV, Music, Travel etc.

Maybe I'll come across my great passion at some stage, but at 33, it's likely I've already spent a third of my life without coming across one (let alone one I can turn into a living) so I think it's quite unlikely.

How about you AH? Anyone have life-long passions and, if so, have you managed to turn it into a sustainable source of income?

DrumSteve

Does masturbation count?

thecatspjs

I've a Paisean for Faisean

lahalane

I've spent the last year doing a writing course. It's something I've always been interested in and I finally decided to give it a go. It's going well and I'm enjoying it so all I need now is someone to pay me for it...PM me if you're interested

anncoates

When women describe themselves as having passion, I always immediately think crazy bitch that irritates partner to murder levels.

Nemeses

I like lamp.

I'm very passionate about lamp.

GorillaRising

I had one as a kid and I regret not sticking with it. I didn't lose interest, but there were a lot of factors at the time. I'd rather not go into it. :D

Anyway, I wouldn't say I have a passion either, but lately I've been going back to basics and throwing caution to the wind as regards my thinking.

Growing up you're kind of taught to behave a certain way and have certain things by the time you're a certain age. But f*ck all that.

I don't want to be like everyone else. I don't care that I don't have a mortgage or a family because right now, I really don't want either. I've a good 7 years left 'til I'm 40 so plenty of time to do all that then if I so wish.


I have a vague idea of what I want to do. I just kept thinking of what I was like as a kid and what I wanted then and it kinda hit me.

One thing I know - I cannot sit in an office for the rest of my life. And I won't.

If you're not careful, society/life in general will rob you of your passion. I see it all around.

cantdecide

Passion and satisfaction are not the same thing. Not everyone realises what truly motivates them deep down. Part of my character is to wish things to always be the best they can be. In my professional life, where I have had the power to change things and create new ways of doing my work so things work better has always been hugely satisfying to me. The subject matter was always secondary. If I had to work with something I'm passionate about in order to get out of bed in the morning, my life would have been pretty crap so far.

I am passionate about motoring and motors. It's been a lifelong theme and I love it. Something that recurs quite a lot in the world of petrol heads is people that get involved in this passion professionally and the passion waning to the extent that they complain that there work has deprived them of their passion.

My first passion in life was music. All I wanted to do was play. All I thought about was this wonderful career I was going to have. I put other aspects of my life on hold because of it and when that passion waned and it did so big-style, I was left with very little direction. Passion is a weird concept.

camel jockey

What about Martin Shanahan? He's 'Mad About Fish' by all accounts.

alwayssideways

My passion is surfing, I'm average at best but I just love it.

I have a very good job in Dublin but everyday I day-dream of living on the west coast so I can surf everyday. Someday I will go through with it.

paddy147

"I got passion in my pants"

toastedpickles

MY passion was and still is rollerblading, not the kind you see kids and stuff doing but stuff like whats in this video

It's changed my life to be honest, the amount of places I've been, people I've met and befriended, the cultures, music, I would have never encountered if i hadn't have put a pair of wheelyboots on my feet 13 years ago

hardCopy

Sleepy wrote: »

The classic piece of advice to a young person wondering what to do with themselves in life is always to "find something you love doing and find someone to pay you to do it" but, despite this being so obviously the key to a happy life (and something I really wish for my kids), most of us end up doing fairly humdrum jobs to support our ordinary lives.

While I've had many hobbies and interests over the years, my attention has never really stayed with any of them. Even if you simply graphed my posts on boards you'd see trends waxing and waning in Fitness, Photography, Politics, Films, TV, Music, Travel etc.

Maybe I'll come across my great passion at some stage, but at 33, it's likely I've already spent a third of my life without coming across one (let alone one I can turn into a living) so I think it's quite unlikely.

How about you AH? Anyone have life-long passions and, if so, have you managed to turn it into a sustainable source of income?

I think there's a fair chance you could take all the joy out of a hobby by trying to make a living out of it.

I also get bored by different hobbies and find the need to shake things up every so often and change the focus of my training.

I'd say it's easier for most people to just pick a career that allows them a healthy work-life balance so that they can pursue whatever flavour of the month hobby they're into.

hardCopy

hardCopy wrote: »

I think there's a fair chance you could take all the joy out of a hobby by trying to make a living out of it.

Yes, I never did music full time partly because it would take all the fun out of it

Merkin

Reading/writing and food/cooking are my main passions. Makes me think I should just get on with it and write a cookbook

camel jockey

Nemeses wrote: »

I like lamp.

I'm very passionate about lamp.

Yes, LAMP has it's merits. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)

I prefer java myself though in place of the P.

Vojera

Yes, I'm passionate about guinea pig care. This time five years ago I didn't even know what a guinea pig was, but through chance I've ended up taking in a tonne of rescues and now I even co-run a guinea pig forum.

Ideally I'd like to start a small animal rescue in my home, but I don't have the space or the money right now. It's the sort of thing I know will never turn a profit, but I think it will make me happy.

MonstaMash

Motorcycles & beer

donegal_road

this might be of interest to someone

Tomohawk

When I was younger I was into making music as a hobby, even got a job in audio industry but music always remained a hobby. Then when I reached the age of 33 out of the blue really I bought a classic Vespa scooter and taught myself how to drive, 10 years later and its still my main passion in life. (This even led me to becoming a trained motorbike mechanic.)

Every spring to start off the scooter "season" Irish scooterists come together for a charity fundraiser called the Egg Run. We raise lots of money and its great fun and very social...Maybe it might be something you might be interested in?

Hoop66

hardCopy wrote: »

I think there's a fair chance you could take all the joy out of a hobby by trying to make a living out of it.

This is my worry. I love cooking, do all the cooking at home and there's nothing I'd rather do than cook and then enjoy food with friends.

I'ev thought on a couple of occasions about trying to make a living at it, but 1) The worry that I'd grow to hate it and 2) It's be a huge drop in income as AFAIK there's not many food jobs that are well paid.

Clandestine

Learning. Its my dream to become a true polymath

Tomohawk

Originally Posted by donegal_road

this might be of interest to someone

Good points made in this article.


No 2 about Pay attention to who makes you annoyed or jealous I can relate to, as I can say now with hindsight that I was jealous of a co-worker years ago who rode a motorbike and subconsciously this was the trigger for me to get into the world of motorbikes and scootering.

NuckingFacker

Vojera wrote: »

Yes, I'm passionate about guinea pig care. This time five years ago I didn't even know what a guinea pig was, but through chance I've ended up taking in a tonne of rescues and now I even co-run a guinea pig forum.

Ideally I'd like to start a small animal rescue in my home, but I don't have the space or the money right now. It's the sort of thing I know will never turn a profit, but I think it will make me happy.

You should pick one or two of them, breed them and try and sell them at a profit. The first two could be the guinea pigs to see if the idea works.

ScumLord

I like learning as much as I can but I think that also leads to me not getting too deeply into any one thing in particular. Once I've gotten my head around something I usually get distracted by something else and want to know everything I can about that as well.

Sometimes I think if I was really passionate about one thing it would close me off from learning about everything else there is in the world. There's too much to see and do to get hung up on one particular thing.

starlit

Ive a few. Art be one of them and technology. Fashion.

seamus

hardCopy wrote: »

I think there's a fair chance you could take all the joy out of a hobby by trying to make a living out of it.

Indeed, I've heard the opposite said by a lot of people - if you make a living out something you love, you may end up hating it.

A graphic designer for example, will eventually find themselves creating by-the-book stuff for conservative clients which neither challenges or interests them. By the time they get home they no have energy/enthusiasm for working on hobby pieces.

I guess there's probably an in-betweeny bit - when you start out, you're free and you do what you want. Then you get a job and you have to do what other people want you to do. But if you push past that or you get really lucky, you make a name for yourself and once again you get to do what you want, except this time people will pay you for it.
Many people probably get to the second part but then get bored and disillusioned and never get back to doing the good stuff.

My "passion" is fixing stuff. Preferably the more obscure the challenge and the less I know about how to fix it, the better. So I should probably be a paramedic, or something.

donegal_road

doovdela wrote: »

Ive a few. Art be one of them and technology. Fashion.

thats one of mine, music is the other

ScumLord

seamus wrote: »

Indeed, I've heard the opposite said by a lot of people - if you make a living out something you love, you may end up hating it.

A graphic designer for example, will eventually find themselves creating by-the-book stuff for conservative clients which neither challenges or interests them. By the time they get home they no have energy/enthusiasm for working on hobby pieces.

That does happen. Companies don't need geniuses anymore, they can train people to do small steps in the process so they no longer need people with expansive knowledge. It's pretty much a goal of large companies to make hard tasks doable by anybody who should try them. If it takes 5 people to do the work of one it's often cheaper and easier to do it that way because those 5 people are easily replaceable.

So it's unlikely you'll ever get job satisfaction in a large company if you're looking to expand and improve your skill.

caustic 1

Too old now to be thinking like that.... I have never found anything that I would really really love to do for the rest of my days.

PickledLime

Music.

Been listening to music every day of my life for the last 14 years. Love discovering new bands, albums, going to gigs, collecting stuff.

I did make a conscious decision not to mix business with pleasure and didn't try to make any kind of life for myself with music, but instead went and studied science, since that was my passion at school (and despite being 30, i still get an immense kick out of learning how stuff works, new things, putting theory into practice, etc).

RedXIV

I was mad about gaming as a kid and couldn't see any downside to working in the industry. And I did it, 4 years working as a video game tester. But the pay is crap and I had a family. So I moved out of gaming and into "normal" software.

Now I just want to set up my own business! But again its down to money

Pensivepuca

I can not go a day with out art, and am considering aiming to get an education in it and a job (part time). But as people have said, I fear I may end up hating it.

Roger_007

Definition of passion: Heavy rain in Belfast!











(You have to pronounce it as they do in Belfast)

Mysteriouschic

Don't really know but I think I have a passion for swimming I always love it I've just never joined the teams or anything .

club goldgrain

caustic 1 wrote: »

Too old now to be thinking like that.... I have never found anything that I would really really love to do for the rest of my days.

really???:cool:

General General

Sleepy wrote: »

The classic piece of advice to a young person wondering what to do with themselves in life is always to "find something you love doing and find someone to pay you to do it" but, despite this being so obviously the key to a happy life (and something I really wish for my kids), most of us end up doing fairly humdrum jobs to support our ordinary lives.

While I've had many hobbies and interests over the years, my attention has never really stayed with any of them. Even if you simply graphed my posts on boards you'd see trends waxing and waning in Fitness, Photography, Politics, Films, TV, Music, Travel etc.

Maybe I'll come across my great passion at some stage, but at 33, it's likely I've already spent a third of my life without coming across one (let alone one I can turn into a living) so I think it's quite unlikely.

How about you AH? Anyone have life-long passions and, if so, have you managed to turn it into a sustainable source of income?

I see the problem.

You think you've all the time in the world.

BeerWolf

I got a passion fruit.

*Scoops out of it*

Nom

hardCopy

Hoop66 wrote: »

This is my worry. I love cooking, do all the cooking at home and there's nothing I'd rather do than cook and then enjoy food with friends.

I'ev thought on a couple of occasions about trying to make a living at it, but 1) The worry that I'd grow to hate it and 2) It's be a huge drop in income as AFAIK there's not many food jobs that are well paid.

I also love cooking. I'd never be a chef though, for one thing most places end up making broadly similar dishes every night, even if they do vary it a bit in the higher end establishments.

The real problem for me would be the heat in a commercial kitchen, I worked on the floor in pubs and restaurants while in college and I wouldn't even cut up a bowl of lemons in the kitchen. I used to swipe a knife and a board and go and slice them in the keg room :eek:

GorillaRising

General General wrote: »

I see the problem.

You think you've all the time in the world.

You're problem is perhaps you feel constrained by time?

club goldgrain

time and age should not stop you follow your passion, but i think most of us will not make a living doing what we love, normally we need a good job to make enough money for us to carry out what we love.
does that make sense?

Sleepy

General General wrote: »

I see the problem.

You think you've all the time in the world.

The standard life expectancy figures are based on those that died in the year you were born and, are therefore pretty skewed by advances in modern medicine. Most of us currently under the age of 40 have a reasonable chance of living well into our 90's thanks to modern immunizations, better nutrition, advances in cancer treatment etc.

Of course, it's quite possible I'll won't make it past 60 (particularly as I'm a smoker who lives a fairly sedentary lifestyle).

Either way, with a young family and a career to support them with, time is something I really don't have a lot of!

Sleepy

club goldgrain wrote: »

time and age should not stop you follow your passion, but i think most of us will not make a living doing what we love, normally we need a good job to make enough money for us to carry out what we love.
does that make sense?

I'd agree, most of us don't get to have that luxury: particularly when you see so many people who's passions are art / music etc. Unfortunately for them, careers in these areas are such commonly held ambitions it's only a very, very small percentage of whose with such ambitions that can actually make a living out of them.

club goldgrain

Sleepy wrote: »

The standard life expectancy figures are based on those that died in the year you were born and, are therefore pretty skewed by advances in modern medicine. Most of us currently under the age of 40 have a reasonable chance of living well into our 90's thanks to modern immunizations, better nutrition, advances in cancer treatment etc.

Of course, it's quite possible I'll won't make it past 60 (particularly as I'm a smoker who lives a fairly sedentary lifestyle).

Either way, with a young family and a career to support them with, time is something I really don't have a lot of!

lets not write ourselve off to early,
give up the smoking add 10years and then make time for yourself,
i'm over 40 and except to be hanging around here until i'm well about 99ish.
passion keeps you healthy chase it.

General General

GorillaRising wrote: »

You're problem is perhaps you feel constrained by time?

There's always two ways of looking at anything, I suppose... when you're as lazy as me, if you didn't set up some feeling of time constraint, you'd getting ***nathin'*** done. Ever. I suspect.

Czarcasm

I always had three passions - helping people to reach their potential and then challenge themselves to go beyond that is the first one. Education is the second one, and technology is the third one.

I get to marry all three in my daily life by helping people to get into education and showing other people how they can benefit from technology, both enabling people to reach their full potential.

I think anything you're really passionate about can be incredibly rewarding. I don't do what I do for the money, 90% of the work I do is voluntarily taken on, but the 10% of work I DO charge for, enables me to do the 90% of the work I don't charge for

General General

Sleepy wrote: »

The standard life expectancy figures are based on those that died in the year you were born and, are therefore pretty skewed by advances in modern medicine. Most of us currently under the age of 40 have a reasonable chance of living well into our 90's thanks to modern immunizations, better nutrition, advances in cancer treatment etc.

Of course, it's quite possible I'll won't make it past 60 (particularly as I'm a smoker who lives a fairly sedentary lifestyle).

Either way, with a young family and a career to support them with, time is something I really don't have a lot of!

All good points, in & of themselves (no, I am not sure what 'in & of themselves' means, but I've wanted to write that for a long time), my point was that one can't rely on that much time, & even if one could, there's Hofstadter's Law.

Fox_In_Socks

I have a few hobbies, but they aren't full blown passions. As long as I manage to make it to the ebnd of the week alive, then I'm happy.

General General

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

I have a few hobbies, but they aren't full blown passions. As long as I manage to make it to the ebnd of the week alive, then I'm happy.

So, you're telling us that Survivalism is your passion? or hardcore weekend drinking?

Fox_In_Socks

General General wrote: »

So, you're telling us that Survivalism is your passion?

Well, when rabbits are thin on the ground, then you're stuck with mice and field voles. Even resorting to stealing uneaten catfood at times...the shame!

General General

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

Well, when rabbits are thin on the ground, then you're stuck with mice and field voles. Even resorting to stealing uneaten catfood at times...the shame!

& prank calling bloodhounds, is what I've heard.