(Originally posted as a guest blog on Happiness Inside, which is now closed)
Earlier this year, I pursued a passion that was long buried inside of me. I didn’t even realize how long it was buried until I began to unwrap it on my 44th birthday last year.
I was sitting on the pontoon at my parent’s lake, thinking back to some of the best memories of my life. I was rather down at that moment, so I wanted to conjure up some memories that included some happy times. I thought back to my teen years. I learned to water ski on my bare feet shortly after my sixteenth birthday. What a thrill that was! I spent the next three years barefooting with the guys on Christie Lake. Every single time that I went out on the water, I was happy.
One day, when I was nineteen, I decided to go out and practice some wake crossings. I caught a toe and slammed into the water in a not-so-graceful cartwheel. In an instant, I went from hard of hearing to deaf. When I climbed into the boat and started talking to my friends, I couldn’t hear myself talk. I just figured that I had water in my ears and that the hearing I had left would return.
It didn’t.
At first, adjusting to being deaf was a horrible struggle. There were many days and nights that I cried. One day, I came to the realization that I could either do battle every day, or I could embrace this new identity as a deaf person and get on with life. From that moment, another passion was unwrapped. I learned American Sign Language and a rich world opened up filled with deaf and hard of hearing friends. Happiness arrived with that new-found passion. Most of my career since graduating from college has centered around helping others who are deaf and hard of hearing. I started and ran a non-profit organization, Illinois Hands and Voices and began providing mentoring services through the state’s Early Intervention program. Along the way, I uncovered a passion for birth and I attended several home and hospital births as a doula. Every birth filled me with incredible happiness inside.
Fast forward to October of last year: my husband sent me a link to the Today Show segment featuring Judy Myers, a 66-year-old woman who learned to barefoot water ski at the age of 53. I connected with her and she invited me to come to the World Barefoot Center to learn to barefoot again. The very moment that I put my feet on the water, I was filled with incredible joy. The sport that had brought both happiness and sadness in my life was now filling me with happiness again.
At the World Barefoot Center, I met Keith St. Onge, the owner and a two-time World Barefoot Champion. Keith learned to barefoot at the age of ten and by time he was thirteen, he knew he wanted to follow his passion for the sport. He has competed since he was eleven, turned pro at eighteen and runs the ski school and a wetsuit company. The sport has brought him all over the world and he has been featured on ESPN, CNN and in several magazines.
“Barefoot water skiing is my passion—it’s what I wanted to do since I was thirteen,” Keith shared. “I wanted to be the greatest. I wanted to be a pro the same way that young kids want to be a fireman. And I get to fuel my passion every day. When I’m on the water on my bare feet—it’s a feeling of complete freedom. When you fuel your passion–passion brings happiness—they feed off each other.”
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Keith’s mom, Jackie St. Onge and I asked her to share her thoughts on passion.
“Passion is your joy,” Jackie explained. “It is the essence of who you are. You have to unwrap it and find it. Some people find it easier than others. The body and the mind and the soul become one when you find your passion. Passion comes naturally to a person. It is like running water: turn on the tap and it flows.”
Passion and happiness are intertwined. When you discover your passion and incorporate it into your life, happiness follows. If you’re not sure how to answer the question, “What is your passion?” you can find the answer by reflecting on the happy and joyful times in your life. What fires you up? What feeds your soul? What puts a smile on your face in the morning and a deep sense of satisfaction and joy when your head hits the pillow at night?
Passion is inside each and every one of us. Unwrap yours.
Copyright Karen Putz, November 2010
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