Obsession is a Good Thing
Four Reasons To Have a Passion Project in Your Life Right Now
I know many of you are feeling down right now: overwhelmed, frustrated, anxious, so many emotions…To say that it’s been a difficult year would be the grandest of understatements. We’ve been away from family and friends for such an extended period of time, had our lives interrupted during eons of quarantine, lost our jobs, watched our president show a thorough disregard for the loss of lives the U.S. has suffered across a frightening pandemic. And that’s just for starters.
But sure as I know that nothing in this world lasts forever — even the good things — I know that this dark time and place will eventually fade into the ether.
Some day the pandemic will end (and with an approved vaccine rolling out in places as I type, the hope is sooner rather than later) and we humans will find ourselves staring down another new reality.
We will be confronted with the task of moving on. Of grieving our losses, finding new jobs, and dipping our big toe into the pool of life again in our charge ahead/but oh so tentative ways. We will be scarred in ways that it may take years to recover from, which is why my advice is to find something to be passionate about right now. Here’s why~
~Reason #1 While we’re still in the midst of this madness, the distraction is helpful. When I have nothing compelling to focus on, I focus on the negative. Wondering if you do, too? Don’t succumb to what you fear. Turn your home into creativity central and develop a hobby that you can get obsessed over. I don’t care whether it’s DIY soap making, miniature photography, establishing a carrot farm in your kitchen with grow bags and LED lights, or learning computer programming inside and out.
Some years back I was in an extraordinarily painful place in my life and that caused a temporary bout of anxiety attacks. Until I could work through the reason behind them and thereby end them, I bit down hard on the fiction writing love I have inside of me. It was escapism as needed while my brain worked out what it needed to.
It was the only bright spot in a terribly sad period of my life. The time spent at my laptop composing became my sanctuary space. I wrote an entire novel rough draft. If you can find that something during this time, it helps.
Then, use that focus to your advantage. Because~
~Reason #2 While it’s true that businesses, especially small businesses, are suffering tremendously right now once the pandemic is truly behind us and worldwide commerce begins again in earnest you may find that the thing you developed an obsession over turns into a new job//career for you. Those essential oils you started working with, combining then into little DIY perfumes for yourself…that blossomed into a free online course on aromatherapy….that turned into an obsession with reading up on the history of perfume and understanding plant matter and learning how to fashion proper fragrances…making you realize you’re an absolute NOSE when it comes to “sniffing” out a winner…Well, that might turn into opening a business on the side of your 9 to 5 that just might change the trajectory of your life.
A smaller, but no less potent reason for delving into something new right now is simply-
~Reason #3 You have the time. Have you always wanted to learn to speak Arabic but your normal week to week schedule prevents you from devoting the kind of time it takes to learn another language? While you’re on a break from job hunting or if you no longer have an hour long commute each direction between work and home, use that empty time to learn to play the guitar, speak Italian, go back to sign language lessons, or take a free introductory course online with a site like Future Learn or Coursera. Our lives are typically so busy that it’s a common thread of conversation: oh, there are never enough hours in the day! During this terrible time, don’t our minutes feel even more precious? Use them wisely.
Finally, the fourth reason. It’s a sad one but I need you to bear with me here. One and three quarters of a second million people have lost their lives due to the Covid-19 virus, and that’s not even counting anyone else who succumbed to cancer or perished in an auto accident- or any other tragedy you can dream up in 2020. So…
~Reason #4 Become obsessed with something because you can. Life can be pointedly painful or exquisite and breathtaking. If you are lucky to be here, please soak it all up when/how you can. Obsession, devotion, passion, focus…give yourself the freedom to explore all that your heart desires. This is not a dress rehearsal. It’s the main show. And I want you to EAT IT ALL UP.
That it may be from the seclusion of your kitchen is okay. It can still be had.
Try new things without fear of failure because all failure really is is just one step on the road toward a future success.
Carpe diem...because you are worth it.
Yours truly,
Vivie Valentina M.
