Weaving in Passion

Yesterday I took my girls to their weekly horse-riding lessons. While my seven-year-old anxiously awaited her lesson, she was kept busy with chores around the barn. At one point, I saw her trudging up a steep, snow covered hill while carrying two buckets filled with feed (or possibly poop). Although I knew the work was hard and the inclement weather wasn’t making it any easier, Brooklynn had a giant smile on her face. She was loving it!

I don’t think the task itself was especially pleasurable – after all, dragging possibly excrement-filled buckets up a hill in a snowstorm isn’t really a relaxing Sunday – but because it involves her passion (horses), there wasn’t a place on earth she would rather be at that moment. Those girls spend two hours at that barn every week and only 30 minutes of it is actually riding the smelly beasts. The rest of the time is spent feeding and grooming the animals as well as significant amounts of time dealing with poop.

Now, as a father with five kids, I can tell you that no matter how much you love the animal producing it, cleaning poop is still a pretty crappy job – pun intended. But at the barn, it’s the highlight of my girls’ week because they have their passions woven into otherwise mundane and manure-filled tasks.

I think we can all learn a lesson here. You don’t need to love everything about what you do. Your day doesn’t have to be filled with unicorns and gummy bears to be engaged. It may still difficult or even grueling at times. But you must find a way to weave your passions into your tasks. And those threads of passion can transform your entire experience.

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