Friday, March 9, 2012

"Project=Passion"

Say the word passionate and it brings to mind a whole slew of terms: Fervent, Ardent, Zealous, Obsessive, Hot-blooded, Adoring, loving, and Enthusiastic-- Just to mention a few.

I have been passionate about a lot of different things in my life’s journey. In the 60’s and 70’s it was equal rights for people of color and for women in the work place. During college I was on my way to Alabama to march in the big protest movement, unfortunately I didn’t’ have the funds to go. This was my “hot-blooded passion” showing up.

Then I picketed against Vietnam, and got yelled at. On the other hand, I sent our soldiers packages filled with toiletries and cookies. Talk about an oxymoron! I justified being involved with the soldiers at the USO on Guam and sending cookies to the troops, because most of them were drafted. Those boys didn’t have a choice to join up or not.

The other half of the 70’s and the 80’s I was passionate about raising my children and being the best mom I could. PTA, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and 4-H; I car pooled kids and volunteered. I was lucky enough to stay home and raise my children at least till my youngest was in seventh grade. This would be my “loving phase of Passion”. Family, hearth and home, and I finished college during this period.

Kids are grown with children of their own now. My husband, whom I am passionate with, and I moved to Oregon last summer.

Now my husband claims I’m most passionate when I have a project. I guess that comes from working since my youngest was thirteen years old, and now I don’t have a job to go to. Some days are a bit funky for me as I am adjusting to not having a job outside the home.
I’m currently in a phase of “creative Passion"
I am writing most mornings during the week to finish my novel (extremely enthusiastic about that) .
I am working on getting my husband’s and my web site up, (taking a class for that which I am enjoying!), getting our Etsy site up and learning all the ins and outs of Etsy, PayPal, and Pinterest etc.

I took on the project of making rustic looking tags for my husband’s crafts. It took all of one day. My husband said I smiled more that day than any other day since moving.

So give me a project or a cause I can get involved with and I’m a passionate, happy camper!

How have your passions changed over the years?

9 comments:

Marie Harte said...

Great post. Passion comes in many forms, I agree. Since I write romance, I normally associate passion with relationship love. But the happiest people I've met are passionate about one thing or another, work, family, play, and all of the above.

I think it's great you're writing AND crafting and helping with your website. Sounds to me like you're passionate about being busy too. :) Love the crafted tag you made, by the way.

Marie

Paty Jager said...

My passions haven't really fluctuated much. It's always been volunteering and making people happy. That's what I hope my books do- bring a smile or a good feeling to the people who read them.
Great post, Diana!

Unknown said...

Great blog post, Mae. I liked how you've identified different passions at different points in your life. And I can completely relate to the passion for writing and being creative/crafty.

Thanks for sharing your passions!

Diana McCollum said...

Hi, Marie! Thanks so much for stopping by! I agree with you that happy people are passionate about something in their lives.

Diana McCollum said...

Paty,

Your books absolutely make people happy.

And isn't that a wonderful thing you do to touch so many different people.

Diana McCollum said...

Hi, Christy!

It's Diana today, not Mae! LOL! Thanks for commenting.

Sandy B said...

I feel sorry for people who aren't passionate about something, even if it's shopping. Passions do change over a lifetime as we grow wiser and more selective. A good passion is one that makes us happy as well as those around us, as you so aptly said.

Judith Ashley said...

I think my passions have pretty much remained the same over the years but how I engage in them has changed. I no longer work on the front lines as a child protective service worker but I do volunteer for the Independent Program's State Advisory Committee.

Thanks for an interesting post, Diana.

Diana McCollum said...

Thanks for stopping by, Sandy.

Your right Judith, not everyone's passions evolve, but how they approach them might evolve. Yours is awesome.