A Modest Spark

Lately, I have had several people come up to me and say, "Wow, you're doing a lot of things right now, I wish I was that motivated," and if you looked at my outlook calendar, which is so neatly outlined I might add (thanks in part to Lori), on paper I am doing a lot of great things. While I am appreciative of this statement I also wonder why I keep going and going. If having two things on your plate was normal, I would have six and if being involved in one committee was exceptional, I would be in five. But Why?!

I read an article the other day about a woman that was frustrated because at the time she could
not fulfill her passion in life, which was to write. After one bestseller and the beginning of a new novel, she had run out of ideas and became so hard on herself that she no longer had the motivation or ability to continue. In the article she decides to ask advice from a close friend because she began to think that her calling in life had changed and she was not supposed to be a writer anymore. Below is an excerpt from that article:

"She was not suggesting that I ditch my passion forever, of course, but rather that I temporarily ease off the pressure by exploring something new, some completely unrelated creative endeavor--something that I could find interesting, but with much lower emotional stakes. When passion feels so out of reach, Sarah explained, curiosity can be a calming diversion. If passion is a tower of flame, then curiosity is a modest spark--and we can almost always summon up a modest spark of interest about something."

After reading this and looking at the last month of my life, having a modest spark sounds more appealing now than ever. Passion can sometimes be a hindrance and being able to look outside our main focus and appeal to the creative yet sometimes hidden desires can be the cure to unlocking the thing inside all of us that wants so badly to achieve our goals. So, for the meantime, the outlook calendar has been cleaned up a little and I will be taking up cooking and hope that as I crack the twentieth egg open and pour the seventh cup of sugar, my passion will not seem so far out of reach and my spirit will be revived.