Being passionate about something is the most beautiful characteristic you can develop
Charlotte Eriksson
While my acting coach was giving feedback to my partner, I was staring at the rest of the class that was sitting behind him. Out of the 10 people there, I would say maybe 1 or 2 people were actually paying attention to what we were doing. Everybody else was either practicing their own scene or just in their own thoughts. I wasn’t surprised or offended by this.
As soon as we finished, the next pair came up to show what they had worked on. Their scene started out slow but then picked up in tempo. And when it did, I was focused on their performance. I even turned around to look at the class again. This time, I would say like 6 or 7 students were also paying attention to their performance. It honestly felt like I was watching a real rehearsal; there was minimal interruptions from the acting coach. Even though everything was just practice, once they were done, the whole class was applauding for their good work.
After their scene, I started thinking – what made their performance so attractive?
I would say it was their passion for the craft. They worked long and hard on it – for more than 6 months. They explored the different ways of portraying the character in the scene. I was there when they first started the scene and seeing where it ended up was amazing. All these attributes – the curiosity, work, and dedication – are what it means to be passionate about something.
Being passionate for something exudes energy
It’s almost refreshing to be in the presence of somebody whose passionate about something. They have this plethora of energy that they can give to others who lack energy. When I hang around people who are passionate about their hobbies, it gets me pumped up to want to do something I’m interested in.
As I’m writing this, I immediately think of Kobe Bryant. Although I don’t follow basketball that often, I and everybody else could see his passion for basketball. It stood out so much that it made him stand out amongst all the best guys out there in the NBA. His work ethic and drive to be better made even those like me who don’t even play the sport want to be better.
I’ve worked with some very passionate people in my job. I’ve also worked with people who really hated or didn’t care about their job. The experience of working with or for them is like night and day. When I wasn’t feeling that drive to do the work, the passionate people were the ones who gave me that motivation to keep going. And that’s what also made me want to work with them more.
Passion is something you develop
I’ve been coming to believe that nobody is born passionate or has a passion for something. I think it’s something you develop from an interest. An interest becomes a passion when the hard work and dedication aren’t a drag in your eyes but something to look forward to as part of the journey into discovering the possibilities of where you can go.
