I’ve been thinking a lot about passion lately. The things it drives people to doing and how sometimes it becomes the only reason you wake up the next morning to do the very same thing. I find it interesting how people respect and honour their passions even in the most difficult times of their careers or studies. I’m constantly surrounded by artists, poets, actors and musicians and its such a great thing they all have in common. Even if they are just improvising or just having fun with their art but its always there, lingering in the air. This indescribable desire to keep doing what they are doing. Passion.
Perhaps I haven’t been able to clearly describe this to you but you know when you see something still in its very early stages and you just know, right there and then that this person isn’t meant to be doing anything else but sing, dance, make music or whatever their respected art form may be. Its an amazing thing to experience. I’m always curious about those kind of moments, when an artist knows that they are going to be great. Most of the time I find that it is the most humbling experiences of their lives. Its never when the audience is around to give compliments and acknowledge your talent because at that time the artists, themselves are probably as overwhelmed as the people watching are.It happens behind the curtains, when the audience has all gone home and the show is over. It’s a personal, self- defining moment.
After speaking to my colleagues and asking them when they knew that they wanted to be creatives, it was mostly because of things they experienced outside of the classroom. Some mentioned how it was a simple gesture of acknowledgement on the street from someone who had seen them once on the stage and they had never forgotten their faces. And for some it was for the mere fact that binary opposites even exist. They had experienced everything else in an academic institution and they realised that they did not fit into any other discourse. And the arts were there, and open space to be as creative as your minds pleases.
For some, like myself, there are many defining moments and also the contrary, moments when you feel like you should be doing something completely different from what you are doing. But i guess those can also become defining moments in their own way, that actually, you will never be completely certain, in any career you’re in. However, its the passion that drives you even after a couple of setbacks. Your passion to succeed will always be there to wake you up in the morning.