Day 214. Faking It

Hate to disappoint you.  I’ll bet you thought I was going to be writing about sex.  Nope.  But I am writing about passion.  Which can’t be ‘faked’ either.  Well it can, but what’s the point?  You’re not really having a good time.  Most people can see through it.  Oh come on.  “Grow up”, as Joan Rivers says.

Do you really think nobody can tell when you’re just going through the motions, as it were?  Unless, of course, you’re Meg Ryan, in “When Harry Met Sally”.

Okay I lied.  I made a passing reference to sex.  But that’s it.  We’re done now.

Julie, over at Sow, Sew, So is responsible for me writing this, particular story.  Her post the other night inspired me.  Among other things, she and her husband are into urban farming.  And Wednesday she wrote about a TED Talk she’d watched on ‘guerilla gardening’.  Her excitement was palpable.

You could literally feel how passionate she is about growing some of her own food.  And although I don’t garden, I was excited about how excited she was.  I wanted to feel what she was feeling.  I even imagined myself growing herbs on my balcony.  And maybe some tomatoes.

Because passion is contagious.  That’s its power.  We get all caught up in it.  Swept away.  Carried off.  It’s all about the ‘heat’ of the moment.  It makes you feel alive.  It’s a heady feeling.  Sexy.

And the truth is, we’re always attracted to passionate people.  Those with a true zest for life.  Those who love what they do, whatever it is.  I love what I do.  My clients always say they can tell.  It’s one of the first things they always tell me.  It comes through in everything you do and say.  It shows on your face.  In your body language.  In your work.  And how you present it.  How you sell it.

It’s authentic.  Genuine.  True.  Irresistible.

I see it in the hospital.  The nurses I work with in the recovery room are all totally dedicated to making patients feel better.  Taking care of them.  Making sure they are comfortable, and not in pain.  They are passionate about it.  The patients always remark on it.  I’ve been there for four years, and it still gives me a thrill to watch them do their jobs.  I only hope if I ever find myself needing medical care, I get one of those nurses.

What you do is irrelevant.  I called an arborist once, because I had a tree in my front garden I wanted to remove.  I couldn’t believe how passionate he was (and probably still is), about trees; and their right to stay planted.  To live.  And thrive.  And improve our planet.  I couldn’t take my eyes off his face when he was explaining why he didn’t want to remove the tree.  In the end he did, but only because its roots were getting tangled up in the gas lines.  And he did everything in his power to remove it in such a way, some of it could be replanted.

How can you not respect that?  How can you not get caught up in his passion?  You’ve got to feel it.  You just do.  Unless you don’t have a pulse.

Don’t know about you, but I’m never drawn to ambivalent people.  Those who just coast by.  Who don’t really give a shit.  Who are mentally making a shopping list, or counting the cracks in the ceiling, while they’re doing whatever it is they’re doing.  I never hired people like that.  I can’t ‘friend’ people like that.  I can’t have relationships with people like that.

They leave me cold.  Flat.  Uninspired.  Bored.  Let down.  Disappointed.  Feeling misled.

They’re not compelling.  They don’t lift me up.  Or set me ablaze.  Or get my nerve endings tingling.  Or make my mouth water.  Heighten my senses.  Get my imagination firing on all cylinders.  Quicken my pulse.  Give me goosebumps.  Give me a thrill.  Or a chill.

Julie, Julie, Julie.  Look what you did!  Look what you started!

Thanks!!  Don’t ever curb your enthusiasm.