Right as Rain: Finding A Passion That Sticks

Earlier this week I made a joke on my Instagram Stories about feeling like Joe Jackson (Michael’s dad, and manager/creator of “The Jackson 5”) because I’ve got my less-than-two-year-old Bellamy in swim lessons and soccer lessons at the same time.

But, in reality, I’m just doing what my mom did for me.

To quote my mom precisely in her parenting choices for me (and my brother Beau): “I just wanted to throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what stuck!”

By “throw a bunch of stuff at the wall,” she meant enrolling me in soccer, tennis, wrestling, football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, Boy Scouts, RA’s (the Baptist equivalent of Boy Scouts), choir, theatre, handbells, piano, and a sailing summer camp. There may be more.

She just wanted me to find something that stuck.

Out of that list, I still love watching and playing most sports, but soccer was the one that stuck.

I still play every Wednesday in an adult competitive league that sometimes gets more heated than my old high school games. (I guess it stuck with the other guys as well).

I’d say that something in the theatre world stuck, too. My mom was always a fan of the arts and we all loved to watch movies together.

I didn’t go into theater, but I did make a career out of filmmaking and speaking on stage.

Yesterday I had a meeting with a story coaching client of mine, Jackie. She’s a painter who is trying to figure out how to tell her story in the most powerful way that connects her to her art.

When I was interviewing her, I asked about her childhood and how she grew up.

She told me this great story about how she’d spend summer weekends with her grandfather and when he brought in the Sunday comics in the morning, she’d snatch the Garfield strip before he could get to it.

She’d then spend the rest of the day drawing and recreating the strip herself.

She said this great line: “When I was drawing, it felt like all time passed.”

At the end of the day, that’s what I hope I help my daughter find. An activity or passion where she can lose herself.

That’s what my mom wanted for me.

When I play soccer now or when I’m on set or on stage, I get that feeling.

Jackie, my story coaching client, would be proud to know that I see my daughter Bellamy lose track of time like that when she is drawing.

So maybe she already found something she’ll be passionate about (but I’m still going to try to squeeze some sports in there).

Things will change with Bellamy. She’s just a toddler. She might change passions and interests a hundred times before she’s an adult. And even then she might change them countless more.

But my goal is for her to know what’s available to her.

Because so often I see peers, colleagues, and contemporaries struggle to find their passions (we call them “purposes” now, though) as adults.

They might be struggling with where they are in their careers or just feel like they are destined to do something else. But they don’t know what that something else could be.

Well to those people, I’d say the same thing I am saying to my daughter, and my mom said to me: “get out there and try different things.”

Your motivation or muse will only come from action.

It will not come find you sitting on your couch. You have to act first.

Only then will you find the equivalent to Jackie’s paintbrush and Bellamy’s pencil, and it may come in the shape of a handbell or a hockey stick. But eventually, something will stick.

And all time will pass as you spend your life doing it.

Rain Bennett is a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, and competitive storyteller with over a decade of experience producing documentary films that focus on health and wellness. His mission is simple: to make the world happier and healthier by sharing stories of change.