Curiosity Over Passion?

When I was in Grade 9, I took a Leadership class. We planned school assemblies, school dances, and other fun events. We read biographies and autobiographies of amazing public figures, as a class assignment. But one of the strongest memories I have from this class is this one day, my teacher comes in and is holding a bag of rocks -- rocks which she painted different words onto. I don't know what any of my peers ended up with, but my rock said PASSION ... and still says it, because it's sitting right next to me (12 years later!).

When I graduated high school, we had to provide one of the presenters with a mini bio -- basically, what were we going to do that coming September? Most of my peers had something around "Attending University of _____" ... mine said something like "Moving across the country to find my passion", because I was planning to take a year off and figure out what I wanted out of life. (Funny enough, the very next week, I received an acceptance letter from a university ... so I did end up going back to school in September! But still, discovering my passion was constantly at the forefront of my mind.)

Last year, I discoverd the word "multi-passionate" -- someone who has multiple passions / is passionate about multiple things. I grew up thinking we were only allowed to love ONE thing, and so I alway felt odd for having ALL the passions. I was so grateful to discover this word existed; it meant there were other people just like me ... I wasn't alone.

Passion has always been a word I come back to regularly. "What am I PASSIONATE about?" And as a Life & Creativity Coach, I use it to describe what I do -- "I guide others towards a life filled with PASSION and joy!"

So as I'm reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic and I come across this section where she talks about passion, I was thrilled ... for two seconds, until I kept reading.

"I believe that curiosity is the secret. Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living. Curiosity is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. Furthermore, curiosity is accessible to everyone. Passion can seem intimidatingly out of reach at times -- a distant tower of flame, accessible only to geniuses and to those who are specifically touched by God. But curiosity is a milder, quieter, more welcoming, and more democratic entity. The stakes of curiosity are also far lower than the stakes of passion."

... intimidatingly out of reach at times? Is this true? "Curiosity is the truth and the way of creative living" ... Have I been going about creative living all wrong?

Maybe I just never thought about it as deeply in my late teens/early 20s ... but having read this passage numerous times now (studying it much more than I've studied any other passage of text), I'm seeing now that perhaps curiosity is a stepping stone in creative living -- first it essential to have a curious mind and explore your interests, THEN you will be led to your true passion(s).

Thinking about how I tend to operate in life (in extremes -- one or the other, all or nothing, *insert cliché here*) ... this makes sense to me now, why it's taken me so long to really GET to this point of (almost) understanding. The years it's taken me to learn (the hard way) that creativity is a process ... *sigh*

To be honest though, I'm still unsure how I feel. I've held onto PASSION for so long, and yes I love the concept of CURIOSITY ... but am I betraying my loyalty to passion by agreeing with this passage?

You probably thought I would have a better ending than this ... alas, I'm still playing around with what curiosity and passion mean to me, and what it means for my creative journey. I would really love to know what YOU think about all of this though! Is curiosity superior to passion? Are the two equal, going hand-in-hand, working together? DM me on Instagram, I'd love to chat about this!

(Note: This is my fifth article relating to BIG MAGIC. If you enjoyed this article, please check out my other four: Hidden Jewels; Ideas are Searching ... for YOU; Creative Entitlement; and, Take Me Away)