Passion
There have been a few posts and conversations lately about
passion. Due to some very recent
experiences and observations, I would like to weigh in on this subject. As I am contemplating this subject, a myriad
of thoughts are flooding my brain, so my apologies if this is a long read. I’m hoping it’ll be worth it. But without further ado, let’s sit down,
buckle up and get to it.
Sifu Brinker mentioned that passion just doesn’t happen, but
it needs to be developed and grow from the efforts you put into it. I couldn’t agree more but let’s jump ahead a
bit.
Let’s say you have developed your passion. I will use myself
as an example. I have several passions
in my life, older ones, newer ones, some that are still in that development
stage. One of my oldest passions is my
profession. By trade and first and
foremost, I am a paramedic. This is a passion that has been developing, growing
and evolving over the course of some 27 years (minus 8 days, not that I am
counting). My passion isn’t about being
a paramedic per se, it is about helping people.
Now every paramedic who has ever been asked the question, “why did you
become a medic?” will say, “I want to help people”. Almost cliché, but an answer that I would
expect and want to hear none-the-less. It
has been many years since I have worked as a frontline paramedic (and I miss
that every day), but my passion for that work and for helping people is still
present. The intent of this post is not
to be about me, but I feel I need to provide some context of my situation. Through-out those 27 years, my passion has
served me by providing opportunities for growth and promotion. I have moved up
the ranks in my department, not because I wanted to climb the corporate ladder,
but because I thought I had something to offer, my passion to help people.
Skipping ahead a bit, I have been a manager for about 10
years. I currently have a leadership
team of about 10 supervisors that oversee about 200 staff. That equates to a regular exposure to over
211 different and unique passions. As
you can imagine, this means many opportunities to see other people’s passion
develop, change, stagnate, wax and wane and even fizzle out completely. Now, sometimes it is easier to see things
more objectively with other people than it is with yourself, but I can totally
admit that everything that I have observed directly applies to me and my
passion as well.
One thing I have learned is, you need to take care of your
passion. Passion can be the fuel that
gets us up in the morning, gets us through the day and even enables us to achieve
monumental tasks. However, if we continuously
draw on our passion and don’t take the opportunities to rekindle and nourish it,
our “fuel” can start to run low or run out.
When needed, if we don’t take the effort to harness and focus our
passion to a controlled steady burn, it can overheat and explode depleting all
of our fuel. Sometimes we do need to
open the valve on our passion to fuel a strong fire, however, even the largest
of fuel sources will run out if not replenished or controlled.
Now the interesting thing about passions is they are very infectious. If you surround yourself with people who are
passionate and use their passion positively, your passion will grow and
flourish. However, the same can be said
if you are exposed to negative and toxic passions. Yup, those exist. If you are a Star Wars fan, passions are just
like the force, they can be used for good or for evil.
I have recently found that my passion was fatigued. Not that I was burning too much fuel, but
more because I wasn’t replenishing or nourishing it. This coupled with an over exposure of
negative or misguided passions as well as the multitude of stressors that comes
with life in EMS, takes its toll. This
is where self-awareness and reflection are very important. Although I did not recognize my passion
fatigue, nor did I take steps to replenish it, sometimes if you are lucky (I definitely
think I was), the universe may step in, slap you in the face, and do it for
you. If this happens, recognize and use
it to refuel your passion.
My slap in the face came in the form of a seven year old
girl. Well, actually it was a punch in the gut. She has an aggressive form of
cancer and yesterday, she had a simple request.
She wanted to attend a gala with a paramedic as her date. It didn’t take long for a barrage of people
to step up and make this happen. This
was my slap from the universe. Witnessing
a group of people all with a passion to help others, coming together to make a
seven year old’s wish come true. This reminded me why I do what I do and work
with the people that I do. A young gentleman put his Saturday evening plans on
hold and volunteered instantly to be her date. Another staff member came in
from out of town (on a day off) to lend his dress uniform for the date. Because of her condition, a medical crew also
needed to be dedicated to this event. Not only did they offer their time, but
decorated their ambulance to be just like Cinderella’s pumpkin coach. In a
matter of hours we had a prince, a carriage and a myriad of flowers and gifts
not only for this special lady, but her younger sister too. While the two young
ladies had their hair done at the hospital, a team of paramedics, supervisors
and managers all worked together behind the scenes to ensure everything from a
safety and medical perspective was in place.
The evening was a great success and everyone enjoyed ice cream
afterwards. And although this came in as
a “request” of our department, everyone involved was honoured that they were
given the privilege to be a part of this very special evening.
I share my insights and this story as a reminder that we
need to take care of our passions. Don’t
take them for granted. Don’t wait for the universe to slap you in the face,
because more often than not, it doesn’t.
I was lucky.
Thanks for reading.
Mike
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