The general, simplified accepted definition is “doing what you love.” The dictionary defines it as a “strong and barely controllable emotion.” However, I believe that life has had its fun in debunking that theory.
Passion isn’t as uncontrollable as we make it out to be. Passion simply is the reverse of the “doing what you love” theory. Passion is loving what you do.
Research has shown that only around 20% of people love their jobs. If everyone were “doing what they loved,” then which people would be working on the remaining 80%? Take a moment to think about all the hard labour or low paid but very crucial jobs people do that YOU definitely do not want to get your hands on if you can help it, if everyone did what they wanted or loved, we are not going to survive.
It is not possible to do what you love, and what you love alone. Therefore, what you should do is to find what to do and love it. Trying to find what you love and doing it will only make you frustrated with life.
Many of us have passions from our childhood that we wanted to follow, then we got older and realized that just having a passion for something doesn’t mean that the thing will feed you, clothe you, provide for your family, pay bills, etc. Then we leave those passions behind and jump into whatever pays. When we reminisce, we are bitter about it.
How many times have you said that you didn’t love something and eventually started liking it? How many times have you gone from literally despising something to loving it with all your heart? It happens all the time, we dislike some people until we get to know them and understand them, we hate our bosses until we see the responsibilities they bear and the root of their tough decision making.
You cannot just base what you are doing on what you like. What you do is to set your sights on something you want to do, and then decide to love it, and then do it. Now, this doesn’t mean you should bury and forget your dreams, but we both know that dreams are expensive to pursue, therefore, kindle a blazing passion for what you are already doing, do it so well that you can build up capacity and resources to pursue your dreams.