the word "passion" in Latin means "to suffer" or "suffering". a clinical psychologist mentioned that in class the other day. she said, some of her patients - fresh graduates - talked about what they want to do in life after college/graduation; they wondered what they should do, and they're lost because they didn't quite know what their passions are. "well," she said to them, "it's not so much of what you "want" or "should" to do, as opposed to what kind of life you want to lead."
ain't that true! sometimes in life we get so bogged down by the little questions we forgot to ask, what kind of life it is that we really want for ourselves. at some point in life, everyone would have thought about this when seeking for a job: what do i want, or what's important to me? is it a lucrative compensation? benefits, i.e. health insurance? is it prestige? am i looking for a job that involves extensive traveling? am i looking for career advancement? and the list of questions goes on.
most people, want a good if not luxurious life - they seek a job that pays well, and reward themselves after with the hard-earned (or not so hard-earned, haha) money; some people love to travel, always on-the-go and never stay at one place for too long, just like George Clooney's character in Up in the Air (2009). some people are very passionate about their work, which could encompass anything from creating art to healing the sick, to finding ways to maintain the balance of the ecosystem, to searching for new cures for diseases etc. these people devote their entire lives in their work with the hopes that whatever they're doing would make a difference to the world. and it does, no doubt.
those are the passionate ones who "live to work", and the future generation relies on them a great deal. we should all be grateful to those folks, just as we should to all the past scientists, artists, philosophers, whatever "-ists" and "-ers" who created the world we live in today. but! not everyone has to have that kind of passion, or know that there's a calling for them to do certain things. it's perfectly fine to live a simple life and not have any huge ambition or a wall full of certificates and achievements; it's perfectly fine to just want to have a home and three children, a spouse (one should be a handful, unless you want varieties and you can afford to :P). i guess what i'm trying to get at here, is the fact that it doesn't really matter whether you're one who "live to work" or "work to live". and so, the more important - or rather, the most important - question is, what kind of life would you want to lead that would make you happy? that's really the only thing that anyone should ask themselves, in my very humble opinion. the rest are details.
often times we do things that only bring us instantaneous pleasures and which probably last for a few hours but don't do us any good in the long run, or will not bring us to where we want (hmm -- this phrase sounds so familiar, i think i might have written it in my previous posts); then we whine and cry about why life is so unkind and why we can't seem to lead a happy contented life. i, personally, am no master at this; i still do things and regret later, but i try to look at the bigger picture as often as i can remember. my bigger picture? i happened to have passion for a certain cause, but i still have other interests and loves, and i'd also love to pamper myself once in a while by not doing anything. at the end of the day it's the big picture that tells a story.
so, yeah. ask the big question, look at the big picture. always the big, not the small. :)
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