Much has been written about passion for work, so much so that the phrase became famous: “Do what you love, Love what you do” you do), however, when it comes to explaining to others how to feel that passion we usually find ourselves faced with a significant challenge. That's why I want to share a poem by the writer Charles Bukowski so that we can do an exercise together:
So you want to be a writer?
if it doesn’t come bursting out of you in spite of everything, don’t do it. unless it comes unasked out of your heart and your mind and your mouth and your gut, don’t do it. if you have to sit for hours staring at your computer screen or hunched over your typewriter searching for words, don’t do it. if you’re doing it for money or fame, don’t do it. if you’re doing it because you want women in your bed, don’t do it. if you have to sit there and rewrite it again and again, don’t do it. if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it, don’t do it. if you’re trying to write like somebody else, forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of you, then wait patiently. if it never does roar out of you, do something else.
if you first have to read it to your wife or your girlfriend or your boyfriend or your parents or to anybody at all, you’re not ready.
don’t be like so many writers, don’t be like so many thousands of people who call themselves writers, don’t be dull and boring and pretentious, don’t be consumed with self- love. the libraries of the world have yawned themselves to sleep over your kind. don’t add to that. don’t do it. unless it comes out of your soul like a rocket, unless being still would drive you to madness or suicide or murder, don’t do it. unless the sun inside you is burning your gut, don’t do it.
This poem is a powerful statement the writer makes about the passion he feels for his work. It gives us a detailed description of what it feels like, not what we should do. If we read the poem calmly we will see that the central axis is emotions, then they are accompanied by certain actions, but in the background; Here actions are the next step, the first is feeling and connecting with the emotions we feel when we face our work or profession.
But, if this poem speaks only of the passion for writing, what good is it for those of us who are not and do not want to be? I found this question, which I asked myself when I read it for the first time, response working as a coach with a person who wanted to talk about the fact that he did not like his profession, he felt that he was exhausted, tired, that nothing made sense anymore, everything was monotonous, without challenges, nothing new to learn, he had seen everything and discovered that he didn't like it. Feeling all this, he decided to follow some tastes that he had "always", but it was not enough, he felt that he had lost his passion.
In that first conversation I remembered this poem, and decided that we would read and analyze it together the following week. One of the activities this person liked was writing, so I thought it could go very well. In the second session I asked him to read it, take a few minutes to reflect and tell me how he felt... He told me that he liked it, that he thought it was a beautiful and powerful poem, that it stirred his emotions, but that it spoke of a only activity “writing”, so I asked this person to do this exercise to connect you with the passion for your work, which I propose you do too:
Identify the words that for you are directly related to the writing profession in the poem.
Select one of the activities, professions or jobs with which you want to connect.
Replace the words that you identified with new ones related to the profession you want to work in.
Read the poem and revise it a couple of times before finishing your version.
Read the new poem aloud.
Connect with your body and your emotions and listen to yourself, give yourself space and time to understand yourself and be with you, see who you are being when you read the poem and what new worlds are possible for you, what You say, how you look, what you think. If you don't feel a connection, go back to step 2 and repeat everything.
Take advantage of that emotion and connection with you to act and begin to take the necessary steps so that passion returns to your professional life and do what you love and love what you do. It doesn't matter that the first step is small, the important thing is that you take it and commit to yourself to move forward to reach that state of well-being.
Never forget that passion needs work, perseverance, time to mature and care for it to be alive. Passion is not simply a state that is reached, it is a path that is followed and on which one works. Also keep in mind that the things we are passionate about are preceded by things that we are not as passionate about but that are still part of it.
Remember that it depends only on you and no one else to achieve and achieve your dreams and goals, you are the director, producer, screenwriter and actor of your life, so you and only you have the power to get where you want to go and the best of all is that you can also choose the means of transportation and the path. There will always be obstacles or difficulties along the way, but passion is an excellent tool to overcome them and reach your ideal point.
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