Why do we love the things we do? Why do we do the things we love? What is it that makes us passionate about certain things in life?

The ability to be passionate is one of the most attractive features a person can possess, in my eyes. When a person’s eyes light up while describing the thing they love doing – for me that’s the point when I get hooked and start giving my undivided attention to the speaker in front of me.

Passion is one of the attributes that can define us – even if only temporarily, as passions can change – but it shows the temporal interest of a person in an action that takes up a significant part of their lives, be that reading, writing, singing, drawing, skydiving, snorkeling, and some passions never change, they only grow more intense.

Passion is what really makes our lives worthwhile. It’s what gives us a reason to get up every day anew. Because we know we are going to do the things we love. That can be simply enjoying a good cup of coffee. Passion comes in all forms. Some of them might be slightly more intoxicating for the individual than others (enjoying wine tastings for example) but they are all equally valid because at the end of the day they fill us with joy (in the case of wine quite literally).

You’re reading these lines right now. I just wrote this sentence, just like the ones before and the ones that will follow. The beauty of passion is – if it’s a true passion, if you’re not restricted in it, if you don’t feel pressured or forced to follow it – it never gets tedious, boring or exhausting. It becomes an obsession to improve and to delve into every time you pick up that guitar, pen or tennis racket. You become your own biggest critic, the only one you really want to please, the only one you want to prove your skill to is yourself.

So why am I writing? What keeps me coming back to my notebook or laptop? What makes me write these lines?

Writing is my way of dealing with life, of processing my life. It’s my method of putting all the abstract thoughts and ideas on my mind into words. It’s where I don’t have any filters, where I’m not limited; everything’s a flow of letters and words that mirror myself.

When I’m writing, I’m free, I’m holding the power to move a pen, to type that word, to create this line.

I’m not necessarily writing with a target audience in mind. In fact, I’m always startled when people tell me that they’ve read one of my pieces, simply because while I’m writing, I’m not thinking ahead, of other people reading these lines. I only think of the here and now and how my pen seemingly moves on its own over the paper, filling up the blank pages.

And then – like magic – the pages are no longer blank but they tell stories – they tell my stories.

One of the most magical moments in life is when you find that one thing (or even many more) that fills you with joy, excitement, utter content, that challenges you in every possible way, that leads you to places you’ve never been before – in the outside world and in your inner universe.

That’s why passions can be so addictive: they create an unshakable bond with yourself – because here you can be your true self.

And that is why I love talking about passion when I want to or when I’m supposed to have a conversation with people – because they reveal the speaker’s true self and give you an insight into their interests and beliefs. This is a topic you can go on discussing for hours and there’s always something new to add to.

What makes you passionate is what makes you interesting, what makes you a living human being, what makes you you.

I wouldn’t go as far as saying finding a passion is a task to put on our to do lists, but it is an integral part of our lives because it means finding out who we want to be, what we want to do in our time on this planet, where our talents lie and what might serve as our individual antidepressant. Doing what you love takes away the pressure of the exuberance of life.

I always look forward to sitting down at my desk and writing down all of my ideas, working on an article or editing pieces. This is where I can forget time, where I don’t check on how much time has passed, so that sometimes I spent hours writing and when I look at the clock that’s hanging above my desk I realize it’s already half past midnight.

I participated in NaNoWriMo for the third time last year (writing 50k words in one month) and managed to hit the amount of words in time but the most recent story isn’t finished just yet (I’m approximately halfway done now). However, since then I’m kind of stuck. I guess I experience what some people might call writer’s block but not because I don’t know what to say but simply because I want to get it right. I want to find the right words to say what I want to say, to make people feel what I feel when I imagine the scenes in my head. Like I said, if it’s a true passion, you’ll be your own biggest critic. Anyway, I’ll try to get back to that story soon, simply because even though the expectations I have for myself are high, I still feel the need to finish this novel, tell that story. So even though it’s a burden to shut off that voice in my head saying “this is not good enough”, I need to keep going, I shouldn’t look back to what I’ve written before and just let these words flow.

Sometimes life gets just a tad too overwhelming and it becomes a struggle to squeeze that hour of yoga into your schedule. But what I’d like for you to take away from this article is that passions are not mundane tasks of your life but what makes your life lively. Think of them as the kidneys of your life – you need to take care of them to make sure they are healthy and function correctly, otherwise you might get into real health troubles. Literally.

Passions are the parts of your life that are supposed to take away the pressure. So never let go of them.

And be proud of them. You don’t necessarily have to run around town boasting about your latest tennis match scores – feel free to do so, though – but take pride in having found a thing in your life you stand behind with all your body and soul. Even if it is as mundane as having a good cup of coffee.

Let other people in on your passions. Maybe it’s not their thing but – who knows – maybe it’s exactly what they’ve been looking for all their life and you could help them at finding this thing.

– Maria

Maria was listening to her 80-year-old grandpa talking about the newest Windows update while writing this article.