For a long time now, I’ve thought periodically about passions, particularly, following them. My number one passion is writing. For a long time, I denied myself that passion because I believed it wasn’t worthwhile, valuable, or could support me financially. Now, I see how important it is to follow my passion somehow, some way, every day; if I don’t, I’m just not being myself and, in a way, I’m lying to everyone around me.

I previously signed up to get a copy of Janet Bray Attwood’s and Chris Attwood’s new book and, in doing so, I was reminded of their other book, The Passion Test. I had thought I remembered that I actually already owned this book, so I sifted through my bookshelves; sure enough, there it was, brand new and never read. I’ve had it a long time; I think I got it with my joining package for some book club I’d joined years ago.

I took the book out and read it. I started thinking about how sometimes it’s difficult to determine if something is truly your passion or just a necessity of life or something you need in order to fulfill all of your other passions. And then I came up with a test to see. When thinking about your passions, ask yourself, “Is this a means to an end or is it the end?” You can come to this answer by asking yourself, “Why?”

Let’s take being healthy and in shape. Sure, I want to be healthy and in shape but is it my passion? So I ask myself, “Why do you want to be healthy and in shape?” My answer is so that I’m alive and have the energy to spend time with my family and write. Okay, so why do I want to spend time with my family? This gets kind of tricky because I want to spend time with my family simply because I enjoy it which makes it somewhat of a passion, but I also need the support of my family, their encouragement, and the knowledge of their love to write. So why do I want to write? I love putting words on paper, having people read them, and sharing myself with others in that way. So, for me, writing is an end.

Writing is my passion. It’s as basic to me as breathing. What’s your passion? Feel free to talk about it in the comment section below.