Living Appassionato (Cont.)

After spending some time thinking about this further (and getting some direct prods!) I can't say I've found a passione (singular) yet, but I would say I am definitely living appassionato (passionately) and for me that might be the key. Do I have passions or am I doing lots of things that I can get really excited about (my definition of passions)? Are there many things that I look forward to, are there times when I'm so interested in what I'm doing that I lose myself and wonder where the time went? Yes, absolutely.

When I was working, my passion was work. I spent a lot of time at it and spent a lot of time working to become very good at it. But work isn't everything for me and I found that much of my thoughts and conversations were exclusively about work. Life isn't about work, if it is you become one dimensional. If all the passion is focused on on work, what happens when there is no work? It took a while and quite a bit of quiet / introspective time, but I'm finding the things I am passionate about. My 'Passiones List' starts with these things:

My family - Jess, Claire and Chris, both the US and UK branches of family, parents, sisters, brothers. This category also includes my really special friends, the ones who even when busiest I've been able to keep in touch with and visit with (at least now and then). Now that I have time to think, I'm working on connecting and reconnecting. Family is so important and when we're in the midst of the fray, some of these relationships don't get the care and attention that they deserve. This is expanding to connecting with extended family, some of whom I haven't seen /spoken with in 20+ years.
My relationship - The relationship with Steve, being the second time around, is an area that I pay particular attention to.
Exploration - Two areas comprise this, external and internal. External is exploring the world, going to new places and getting to know them well enough to understand how they tick. What are the nuances that are not immediately apparent? Getting to know places in ways far beyond the standard 'American goes to American places in international locations'. Internal exploration is learning new things (sailing, for example) and finding topics that interest me to the extent that I want to know everything about them, that I will read everything written about them. This is where playing music, reading books (exploring beyond the standard genres that I habitually read!), learning Italian and to live in Italy (at some point). Dancing is back on my passions list, cooking well remains there and I'm going to try a sport, bicycling (this should be very interesting for non-sporty me!).
Health - I know it sounds trite, but the past three years of the consultant lifestyle took their toll and I want to be fit!

I'm really enthusiastic about this blog and the fun that I have creating it. I started it just to keep a record, but it's become much more than that. It's a creative outlet at the least!

So, for me, I have passions rather than a passion, and they change, sometimes a lot. There are lots of definitions of passions and passionately, I think perhaps they need to be defined for oneself. Asking oneself, 'What is my individual preference, a passion or several / many passions?' And then defining them from there.

One thing I do know, this isn't a quick process - an hour with a notebook and, poof, I've defined my passions - didn't work that way for me! My list that I'm working with now took me two years to develop and as I explore that list I expect it will continue to grow and change as I explore ideas and try new things. It required quite a bit of quiet time asking myself what I wanted versus what others wanted me to do. All that alone time in hotel rooms in Scotland was quite useful! But for me, the key was just to start making the list, it was amazing how it grew once I had a place to put my passions!