Passion manifests in many ways.
Many people equate passion with a feeling.
This is a mistake.
You won't always feel your passion, but that doesn't mean it's gone. Passion manifests itself in many ways: sometimes loud and outgoing, sometimes quiet and cautious, sometimes optimistic and relaxed, sometimes skeptical and stressed.
Passion is what makes you get out of bed in the morning. Passion makes your eyes light up about a topic, it makes your brain turn with new ideas. Some days it includes all things new and exciting. Other days it includes nothing more than the mundane routine of responsibility. It won't always mean going full speed as if you had just downed a case of Red Bull.
A car gets the best mileage not when it's accelerating, but when it is driving at a steady pace. Don't worry if you're not fired up or feeling like a cheerleader all the time. It doesn't mean your passion has fizzled, it just means you're focused on the long road ahead.
Originally published March 2010
