I used to think that it was virtually impossible to get burnt out when you live a life of pursuing your passion. I was never more wrong. Even when you are busy doing the things that you love, you can lose steam and bring yourself to your own demise.
Passion is essential to having a meaning-filled and super-charged life. Everyone’s goal should be to find that they love doing most and do that. But getting to do what you love isn’t the “happily ever after” to your story. In fact, it’s only the beginning. You will still face challenges as you pursue your passion.
One such challenge is burning out. Yes, it’s possible to burn out even if you love what you do. When we’re not careful and we let our passion start to wear us down, we risk turning passion into a monster. If we’re not careful, we could watch that which brings us joy bring us heartache instead.
Passion is Sacrifice
The foundation of passion is not only enjoyment. It’s sacrifice. While our passion can cause us extreme happiness and pleasure, it will entail great sacrifice. If you love music, you will sacrifice time and effort to perfect your craft. If you love business, you will pay the price of putting out capital and even losing some- if not most- of it.
And because passion requires sacrifice, it’s not always going to be a walk in the park. It will require us to pour blood, sweat and tears into it. I won’t dare question your dedication to your job, ministry, avocation or family. But because you’re dedicated to what you love, you will go all out into making things happen. And many times that can be tiring. Dreadful? Probably not. But when burn out looms in the background, even the most passionate people can lose their sense of life and focus.
The Solution: Build Healthy Boundaries
Even your deepest passions can become a source of problems if you don’t have healthy boundaries. So make sure that you keep those boundaries clear. It doesn’t matter how passionate you are about your job. Do not work every single waking moment of your life. Even if you love parenting and taking care of your kids, take some time every week or even for small increments a day to focus on a hobby or on taking care of yourself.
Your passions deserve significant chunks of your life, but they also don’t have to eat up your whole being. Make sure to disconnect from even your deepest passions and take the time to re-energize and recalibrate.
Passion is beautiful. It’s extremely valuable as well. And like anything of high value, you need to steward it right and steward it well. Don’t let your passion run your life to the ground. It’s just as, if not even more depressing than seeing someone lose in life for not finding passion at all. But if you learn how to build healthy boundaries around your passion, you will become more successful in everything you put your hands and heart into.