passion vs purpose

passion vs purpose
what's driving you?

over the holidays i went to visit my girlfriend and her family down in southern virginia. the ride isn't terribly long- just long enough for one to clear their head, and delve deep into thought. i'm sure no one has ever thought of the pt cruiser as a vessel of enlightenment, but while i cruised down the highway i could not stop posing reflective questions to myself. what am i doing here? are my goals selfish or self-sacrificing? how should i go about changing myself to both better myself and be a better friend to those i'm close with? what is my purpose? what is my passion? can they be the same? needless to say, it was a long, and lonely car ride.

the line of thought that has been forever a riddle to me is that of 'passion vs purpose'. what is the difference between the two? passion is defined as a strong emotion or feeling; to me it's something you have fire for; something, that if left unfed, will eat at your core. to have passion for something is to have a fever for it- and no, the prescription isn't more cowbell. passions come in countless forms and are all around us- from that crazy homeless guy who likes to dance at the metro, to the girl that cannot stop capturing the world with her lens. to have a passion is not uncommon- often people have several, and yet some lack just one. there are many who have yet to find what they are passionate about. i know i feel awakened constantly to new things, and people, and passions. but purpose is entirely different.

to have purpose, is to have meaning- to have substance- to stand for something. your moves are all motivated by one ultimate force- to do whatever it is, and be a better person. i dont know what my purpose is in life yet, and it kills me. being blissfully unaware that i even needed purpose was a lovely little mindset that i enjoyed living in, quite frankly. i now firmly believe that i very much need to find out what that purpose is- im sure with more time my 'now, now, now' mentality will slow to a 'tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow' mindset...but jeeze, can't enlightenment just arrive on my doorstep- wrapped in the comics- with a balloon on the top? does purpose come with life experience, or vice-versa? must we all go through life making mistakes and learning from them in order to find our path?

a purpose is the road on which we drive in life. passion- is the fire, the fuel, the car that goes. a car with an endlessly full tank on an empty road can drive for a long while. passion vs purpose is something that remains a riddle to me. i want them both to be defined explicitly in front of me. i'd much rather that then to actually go out there and find out for myself! haha, who am i kidding? life wouldn't be fun at all if there was some tangible script, or reference guide. life wouldn't be so rich, and colorful if it weren't for both the ups and downs- the mysteries and the lessons learned.

but what i do know for certain is that passion + purpose, could just be that unstoppable force that we all need in order to accomplish anything. i might not know both sides of the equation, but the outcome could be great.