Passionate Work

Flying home over the Rocky Mountains while the sunsets put an enormous smile on my face. This is home now. These purple mountains covered in white snow. Looking down from 30,000 feet they seem small, but have so much unexplored detail. Places I want to play. Places I want to make more time for in my life. My smile is part appreciation, part bliss.

I did it. I finished the core curriculum from the Coaches Training Institute. Over 104 hours spent in a LA hotel conference room spread over 4 months and it's finally done. Hot damn, I'm done traveling for work! At least for a little while.

So many things have opened up. Conversations started, realizations gathered, snapshots in time framed. I must have been beaming. For the next thing I know, a gentleman sits down in the empty seat next to me boarding a flight to Phoenix to start his new work position. And I ask, "do you like your work?"

"It's alright I suppose. There are things I like and things I don't."

"Are you passionate about your work?"

"No."

"If you could be working with your passion, what would that look like?"

"Whoa, that's a deep question for an airport. I haven't ever allowed myself to think of it that way. I suppose if I had to think about it, I've always been interested in Saturday Night Live. And I could picture myself writing comedy skits for them. What about you? If you could work your passion, what would it be? Wait, I know. You like asking random strangers what their passionate work looks like."

(It didn't strike me at first his humorous stab at writing a skit. I chuckle now.)

"I'm actually living it. I live my passion everyday."

"What is it that you do?"

A big smile spreads. I answer him honestly. And for once in my life, don't wish it any different. "I write, I cycle, I coach, I public speak, I am an entrepreneur, and I love having an impact in the world."

"Wow. You don't hear that every day. I better catch my flight."

Poor guy, never stood a chance. He just witnessed my boldness unleashed after a weekend of transformation and witnessing others changing. It's oozing out of my pores.