Passion & Perspective

Friday was Joe and I's 'Negative One Year Anniversary.' Which basically just means that one year from Friday is when we are getting married! Hooray! I can't believe it. We celebrated by having a date night, making some wedding plans and having some great conversation about our future adventures, particularly his snowboarding.

I would be lying if I said that being okay with Joe moving to Colorado to be a pro snowboarder was an easy decision for me. I mean of course I want him to be happy and I want to support him no matter what, but there was a lot of doubt about what that meant for us and our relationship. 

As a creative and small business owner, I have to say I'm almost embarrassed by how long it took me to come around to understand this next part. I spent years working at desk jobs that I hated where I felt like I was suffocating (read more about this journey here) just trying to get out. It even took me a while to convince myself to run my own business after people told me it would never work. Now, every day I get up, I sit at my own desk in my office in my home, work for myself and chase after my dream of being a creative. It's incredible and more than I ever dreamed it could be.

And a big reason I am able to do this year after year is because of Joe. He has supported me in every way possible: emotionally, physically, financially, etc. He lets me cry on his shoulder when something goes wrong, complain and rant about emails, assemble invitations and gift boxes, and picks up where I can't on those slower months. If he can help, he's right there, no questions asked. 

So why did it take me so long to understand that the way he feels about snowboarding is the way I feel about my business? To support him not just verbally because I felt like I should but also emotionally and with my whole heart?

For a long time, I was selfishly worried about how it affected me. What it meant for my life and my business. I'm not really a fan of change. I like things the way I like them. 

At some point, Joe started talking more about how snowboarding made him feel. How excited he got when he put his board on, turned his music up, and hit the snow first thing in the morning; how he felt at home on the snow and like that was where he was meant to be; and how amazing it felt when he landed a new trick or technical riding style. It's the same way I feel when I send off a new design I've been tirelessly working on to a client and they come feeling just as excited as I am about it.

I am not a snowboarder. I can make my way down the mountain (hooray falling leaf!), but after one day and a ride or two down a green slope, I'm good for like a year. Hand me the spiked hot cocoa and I'm good to go in the lodge. I just didn't get it and didn't allow myself to see it from another perspective.

When I finally realized that the way he felt about snowboarding was the way I felt about my business, it was like something just clicked in my head. I totally got it. I understood how he felt and was able to support him completely, not just go thru the motions. And when I pointed it out to him, he did too. Despite the fact that our passions are incredibly different, we were able to understand each other better by relating with how we felt. 

Sometimes we get so stuck in our own ways and in our heads that it can be hard for us to understand where others come from. Just because someone is different from us, doesn't make them wrong. And it doesn't make us right. It just means that we all find passion in different things.

Finding your passion isn't always an easy road. Sometimes we find it on our own, and sometimes it finds us. It comes in all different ways. No one's passions are the same because it's not just what we do, but also the heart behind it. It comes from our own experiences and how we relate to others using those experiences. 

If you haven't found yours yet, don't stop looking! It doesn't matter how old you are or where you are in life, it's never too late. And if you have, don't let it go! You can absolutely make it happen! 

Happy Monday, ya'll!