---
title: "proving passion persists — alex laughnan"
description: "dive into the unexpected and embrace the known, familiar feeling of enjoyment and positivity."
url: "https://alexlaughnan.com/blog/proving-passion-persists/"
---

[← blog](https://alexlaughnan.com/blog)

# proving passion persists

january 6, 2014

photographed by alex laughnan **pas·sion** (ˈpashən/) — _noun_

1.  strong and barely controllable emotion.
2.  the suffering and death of jesus.

_for the purposes of this article, i will be focusing on the first definition. feel free to explore (on your own) the second._

last night i was catching up with a friend who is currently unemployed. thus, as you can imagine, i was curious to see what jobs he had applied for or what he was looking to do.

“i applied for this project management job on friday. i think the interview went really well!”

naturally, due to his previous work experience as a journalist, my perfunctory response was, “are you **even interested** in project management?” whoops, i’m kind of a straight-shooter.

this question was the catalyst to a seriously entertaining (and intriguing) monologue in which he stated that while we may find things (professionally and personally) that are not as mundane as others, true **passion** does not exist.

> “passion does not truly exist. there are just some things that we enjoy doing or are used to doing more than others.” — my friend.

at the time, i digested this information silently as our conversation weaved through other non-related topics such as whiskey (yes, please), butoh dance and recent, awkward dates.

having adequate time to look back and reflect on my thoughts, i would have to disagree. i believe that passion (without sounding cliché) is **a fundamental driving force**.

“why?” you might ask. let me provide an example.

#### just keep swimming

as a child, my parents got me involved in pretty much every sport they could sign me up for. while many of those did not pan out (i would not even walk onto the baseball field), there were a few that stuck.

my mother is an all-american swimmer and general badass extraordinaire (and the subject of this article’s cover photo). this meant that all her children were required to attempt swimming from a very early age. so we swam. it didn’t take me long to realize that swimming was “my sport” (i.e. i felt _passionate about being a swimmer_).

as a childhood athlete, i don’t know if passion is perceptible. i knew that i liked swimming more than baseball. i liked it more than hockey (shudder). more than soccer. than track. looking back, i suppose i perceived my enjoyment of swimming a lot like you would experience love. yes, that’s right. **love**.

#### passion of love to passion of life

have you been in (or are in) love? if you haven’t, my analogy would be the best bottle of wine (or tequila). you savor it. you enjoy it. you lavish in it. and you have hangovers from time to time.

still cannot connect? okay, let’s make a less sexy illustration. you know when you are interested in someone? you think about them constantly. if you haven’t dated very much, then you are probably texting them right now (stage 5 clinger status). if you are more jaded (join the club) your tactics involve subtle, infrequent messaging and consistent longing.

my point is that same feeling is derived from that which _you are passionate about_. you are completely, irrevocably consumed by it. a bookworm’s new book. a skier’s new set of atomic skis and a fresh foot of snow. a swimmer’s new pr swim, rush of the water in their ears.

#### proving passion persists

i distinctly remember a swim meet in federal way, washington as a teenager. coming from montana, this facility seemed like the olympics. you had to qualify for this swim meet and i had made the cut. roadtrip!!

_disclaimer_: i’m not the **best** swimmer. i am **definitely not** the future michael phelps. never was the “star” athlete on the team. yet, the minute that i dove in for warm-ups, i felt like nothing could hold me down.

i doubt i won anything at the meet besides the self-created satisfaction of dropping a few seconds here and there in various events. the point remains that swimming brought me uncontainable joy.

fast forward to 2014. i am currently working at portland state university. while you won’t see me at [rio 2016](http://www.rio2016.org/en), i still seek the solace of swimming to de-stress, stay in shape, or reconnect with myself. that same _passion_ continues to occur.

#### wrap it up, alex

in the end, i believe that each person **can** truly be passionate about something (or multiple things). the basic driving force of human innovation and imagination is the _passion_ that our fellow beings channel. continue to strive for what moves you. keep learning, improving, changing. dive into the unexpected and embrace the known, familiar feeling of enjoyment and positivity.

_just keep swimming._

> like what i discussed? click “**recommend**” below! passionate about something? i’d like to hear it! tweet me [**@alexlaughnan**](https://twitter.com/AlexLaughnan)!