Finding Your Passion Again
Chris Nachtwey
Finding | Your | Passion | Again
"Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate."
- Jon Bon Jovi
Passion is a strong word; it defines one’s enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something. For many we lose our passion for what we love to do somewhere along the path of life. Maybe it’s something that naturally fades away as we get older, maybe it’s because we have more responsibilities and have little time to fulfill our passion, or maybe, just maybe it’s the fact that we suppress our passions because it seems like an unobtainable dream.
My passion has always been to tell a story using a visual medium. It started with video production; so much so, I went to college for broadcast design and production. I thought one day I would own a video production house where I would shoot and edit creative videos for commercial businesses. That dream faded when I left college and entered the cooperate world via network television.
Three years into the cooperate lifestyle I realized I was not doing what I set out to do in life and furthermore I had lost my passion for being a creative. I was more worried about my next performance review then I was about creating something meaningful.
I found my passion again when my girlfriend gave me a Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens for Christmas. See that little, oh so little lens, awoke my passion, that lens made me want to create again. With that passion alive and well again I set off to start my photography business vs. a video production house and leave the cooperate world behind. Passion is what has driven me to succeed at what I’m doing. If I didn’t following my passion I would still feel lost and confused in the cooperate word.
I challenge you to find your passion again if you’ve lost it, or keep following it if it’s alive and well in your heart and soul. Life is a short journey when you think about how fast the years fly by. Life might have thrown you a curveball or maybe you feel like you have no time to do what you love, but I know you still have a passion deep down in your heart that you need to fulfill. Don’t let anything get in the way of fulfilling your passion in life, be it making photographs, cooking, teaching, and a slew of other things. Passion is what drives us to live a full life, not money, or promotions. So, go do what you love, even if it’s just for you, and no one else.