Passion and Practicality

With the last entry I wrote, I find I’m now on a totally different Road.

The sign for this road glows neon-orange in my headlights:

Junction of Passion and Practicality

(Watch out for Rocks)

Ignoring the sign, I keep going: what would my life be like, totally immersed in a Passion? Something for which I was uniquely suited, trained since childhood, good at, no…great at! Something few others could do, were currently doing, or had ever done. Something that nourished me on purpose and inspired others by accident.

Enter the images of comparison…friends who are already living Large. Living their dreams, their loves…their unique skills, talents, experience, and history combining to give them all they need to live every day in joyful demonstration of who they are.

--Sound like a fairy tale? It isn’t. I know these people. Some are well known to many, like my dear friend, author Alan Cohen. He is one of the most passionate men I’ve ever known, and I love being around him. He is magnificently present to his feelings, his expressions, and his connection with everything and everyone. He does things for the Joy of it in the moment. Is he ever distracted? Sure. Ever wrestle with a problem? Of course. But his life seems to be…enchanted.--

And I know other enchanted lives, too: Teachers, pilots, writers, dancers, foundation directors, and mechanics. People who transform with their gentle instruction, awe with their flying skill, move with their words on the page, captivate with their movements on the stage, feed with their generosity, and breathe new life with their reconstructions.

Setting aside my aching jealousy for the lives they lead (you know who you are, my friends), I ask myself: How did they DO that?

A tiny voice says: One step, one decision, one opportunity at a time, that's how.

Well, that’s fine for them…not for me…I need to be Practical. (Aw, man, I forgot about the sign. Now the battle begins.)

“You can’t go gallivanting (is that how you spell that?) off and do loops and spins in the sky…You’ve got to pay the bills, you’ve got to earn money/be responsible/have health insurance/buy bonds/clean the bathroom.”

“You can’t have fun writing this blog forever….You’ve got to pay the bills, you’ve got to earn money/be responsible/have health insurance/buy bonds/clean the bathroom.”

“You can’t help start a historic air museum on a purely volunteer basis….You’ve got to pay the bills, you’ve got to earn money/be responsible/have health insurance/buy bonds/clean the bathroom.”

Ugh…Practicality is so BORING; it says the same thing every time. But the voice has great power in the FEAR it instills in me…the fear of what would happen if I couldn’t pay those bills.

It is a huge trap, with spikes for teeth, and I get caught in it just about every single time.

Except this once. Because I am now moving towards something that takes my breath away.

And Practicality (in the most limited definition of the word) can’t just sit around and whine in such a rarefied atmosphere; there's simply not enough oxygen for it in my breathless state…I have forced it out of the plane, sans parachute.

“One step, one decision, one opportunity at a time.” But am I patient enough for that?? Can I possibly hold my breath that long?

Well, I guess we’ll see…come Monday, on the occasion of my first aerobatics lesson, the weather is supposed to be gorgeous, and Will Allen will be waiting for me at noon. After dancing a bit in the sky, we’ll see just how hooked I am, and just what kind of Passion awaits.

You’ll be the first to know.