Discover and Use Your Passion
What are you passionate about? If you don’t know the answer to that question, I recommend you think about it. Passion can move mountains, and it moves people. I have noticed a common trait of successful people—they are passionate.
I recently watched an old video clip of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan. What remarkable women they were! It made me go back and look up details of Helen Keller’s life. She lost her sight and hearing at 19 months of age. Can you imagine living in a world of total darkness and total silence? It must have been incredibly lonely and terribly scary. Her life could have been one of pure misery. She could have been very bitter, and no one would have blamed her. She could have become a helpless victim. Instead she became an amazing force to be reckoned with. She went to college and received a bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College. She was a vocal activist in politics and a staunch advocate for people with disabilities.
Helen and Anne are two shining examples of people with passion. When Helen was young, Anne came into the family as her teacher. Anne walked into a situation many would consider impossible. Her new charge was out of control, almost feral in her behavior, but she brought passion with her. It gave her the strength to stay strong, persevere and, frankly, work miracles. In turn Helen developed a passion for living and a life with no time for self-pity. She was too busy changing the world. Leaning on others, working as a team, working with passion—these are the things that make the impossible possible.
I found my passion after the death of my son Andy in 2011. I really didn’t think I had any reason to be on earth after he died. He was my life, my only child. I defined myself as Andy’s mom. I had nothing more to do here. I was afraid and shattered, felt useless and had given up. “It’s so unfair,” was my mantra. Part of that was the natural grieving process, but I finally decided to pull myself up by the bootstraps. I realized I did have a purpose, and that purpose was to make sure no other parent or child had to go through what Andy and I went through. If I could save one person from the pain and death of drugs, I knew I could give my son the beautiful legacy of saving the life of another through me. Passion? You better believe it! I became a huge activist. I spend as much of my free time as possible working with Heroes in Recovery in this important mission. Mother and passionate activist head up the list of who I am.
I believe people must be passionate in their recovery. Be passionate for yourself. Be passionate for others. I found so much healing in helping others, and I think you will too. Help those who are newer to recovery. Lean on others when you need to. Make it a team effort because there really is strength in numbers. Follow your program with enthusiasm even if you don’t feel it every day. That may be the time you need it most. Give yourself permission to not be perfect but never lose that passion. What have you done lately to keep your passion for recovery alive?
Here’s a way to share your passion—tell your story and help someone else! It’s really easy. You can do it in one of two ways:
1) Go to /share and enter your story. Say Pam sent you.
2) Message me on Facebook and we can talk in person or you can text me your story.
In love and light,
Pam