What are you passionate about?

I was driving to work this morning, wondering why I feel so 'blah' all the time. I've had a stressful couple of weeks for various reasons. I do take anti-depressants and birth control for PMDD, so I feel like my 'blah' feeling is coming from something else. That got me thinking about what keeps other people happy. My husband is passionate about a few things. He loves music, the Texas Rangers, and he collects transformers toys. He also loves to draw and build stuff. I feel so happy that he has those passions that are his, that he can do for himself. I started thinking of my own passions. What do I love? The only things I could think of were my kids, my husband, my family, my home, my job! Come on! Those things are not enough to make a person feel fulfilled in their lives. Yes, I am a Mom, and I love being a Mom. Yes, I am a wife, and I love being a wife. But those things do NOT define me! I think that is the source of my 'blah' feeling. I have no hobbies, no passions. Nothing that is just for me.

So my question is... what things are YOU passionate about? What do you do for your own happiness that has nothing to do with children, husband, etc.? What do you do enrich YOUR life?

Every Sunday I go and write for a few hours. The time to myself is wonderful and I usually end up in Panera, so I get some food that I like that my husband doesn't. The end result is I finished my first novel, which is currently at an editors office! Hoping to have it published by fall. Other than that I read, which I do while my daughter is napping.

sadly the things I have been passionate about have taken a back seat to being the wife, mom, coworker, maid, taxi driver, neighbr, friend sybling.
What I used to love was detailing my house/cars, gardening, having a perfect lawn, painting and updating my house or getting into a project for the house (redecorating a room for under $100) or doing a 'while you were out" and surprise my hubby. Now its just filled with the daily routine, get up, get dressed, drop my beautiful girl off at daycare so i can go to work, pick her up 9.5 hours later, go home, cook, bath, bedtime routine, clean dinner and pick up a room, shower, go to bed.
You are not alone..but hopefully it will get better. I am excited to have longer days since summer is coming and will have more light to do my favorite things :):)

Everything I do, I do for my family. They are my reason for getting up & going to work every day, my reason for happiness, but they are not my passion.

I love to cook. No, to be honest I adore it. I do not cook every single day, but if I skip a couple of days in a row everyone will know it because then I will feel compelled to make some grand meal that I've never made before. I have books & boxes full of recipes I've found & either have made repeatedly (you can tell by how dirty the card is & how many notes I've made on it) to stuff I still want to try. Food makes me happy, but way more than that, making other people happy with nothing more than feeding them something I've created with my own 2 hands, well, there's nothing else like it.

I have other stuff I love like reading & going to the beach, but for me nothing beats cooking or baking.

I can understand your feeling because I get into those blah moments too! I also can see that I don't have nearly as many things in my life as far as hobbies and enriching activities compared to what I did when I was younger, so it's a struggle!

For me, I love real estate! I love homes, architecture, historical homes and buildings. I love reading about houses and history of houses and famous places. I worked in residential lending for many years and always thought that I just kind of landed in that job and wasn't that fond of it. But like I told my husband last week, being away from it for almost 3 years now as a SAHM, I have gained tremendous perspective on the fact that I really do love that job and love real estate and all that surrounds the process of buying a home and making it your own. It's been almost 3 years since we owned our own home and are finally buying another, so I am feeling a surge of excitement to be in my own space again that I can improve, love, whatever....

I am passionate about health care, particularly that of my child. I have become an educated and passionate participant of the ongoing vaccination debate and even joined a grassroots organization in my state to help continue to ensure the right of parents to make individualized health care choices for their children.

I love music and dance and don't actively do anything with those hobbies currently as I did when I was younger, but I try to incorporate them into my life as much as possible just by exposing my child to as much music as I can.

My time in the mornings when I drink my coffee and watch my son play or let him watch his favorite shows while I connect with family and friends online and mamapedia and read the news online is actually some of my favorite me time.

My husband always had lots of hobbies too. He told me after our first child was born I needed one too. He was so right and I am so thankful to him for encouraging me to find something to be passionate about. I have been doing stained glass and mosaics for over 10 years now. 2 years ago as part of a community Ed program I took a lamp work beading class too. Through that I made 4 great "glass friends" whom I regularly get together with for GNO.

FYI...before trying stained glass I tried swimming, painting, drawing, photography etc. It took a while before I fell into the glass thing but now it is my passion and I actually have a gallery that wants to carry my art. Yeah!!!

In writing my list - I realized all the things I feel passionate about and make me happy are things that I am proud of. Interactive things I DO that make me feel good about myself. I wouldn't feel passionately about the Rangers because I am in no way responsible for thier success. The things that define me are things that I put my hands on.

I cook. I get a great big kick out of people gushing over my food.

I download music online and burn cds to listen to in the car, I work out, and I've taken a new interest in my yard. I've planted flowers, a couple vegetables, and ornamental grasses, so, I like tending to that and seeing the fruits of my labors. I like decortaing my house. Moving furniture and wall hangings around. Going to garage sales to hunt for hidden treasures to feather my nest with. I like to give wonderful gifts, so, I like to spend time treasure hunting for birthdays, Valentines, and whatever else. And yes - MY Husband and KIDS! I challenge myself to find free or very cheap family things we can do together on a regular basis. I like bringing home the bacon and providing a good living for my family. I like to be able to buy something new for the fam or take everyone on a vacation. True, All these things are for the betterment of my family and my home, but they give me joy and make me feel like I am worthwhile. I have fun doing them and I'm proud of the results.

Well, of course my family fulfill me, sometimes they even fill me more than I can, lol. But you mean something besides them, so
-I have some kind of OCD I think. I get very passionate with things at a time and I just focus so much on them until are finish, I have put together a huge puzzle or I sometimes get very passionate about cleaning and I would clean even the most tiny, deepest spots, or I would get passionate about a book and I almost read it even in the shower, lol.
Most of this things last only until I acomplish them and then I move to something else.
There are some things I always feel passionate but don't do them all the time, lik:
-I LOVE to decorate, specially for Holidays, I get kind of crazy, lol.
-I love games, my favorites are chess or those games that are like detective and you have to solve puzzles or find clues, kind of Agatha Christie but for older.
-I love movies, I am not picky either, I can pretty much watch anything and I would find something I like about it.

My PS3 (love video games!), Make Up (I am a make up junkie love the stuff love to find new looks/tricks and I love to share), Singing (every Monday I go to a community singers group it's great!). So, video games, make up and singing keep me going but right now I am in a funk that even those are not doing it enough for me, it happens.

I love picking up new hobbies.
Baking.
I don't just bake a cake. I love to get creative with it, like what you see on tv.
Sewing
I just got my very first sewing machine ever, so thats my next new adventure. My goal is to be able to sew my girl her summer dresses, make her a baby memory quilt, and make a quilt for our bed.
The one I share with my BF is cars.
We have a 65 ford Mustang, 29 Ford Model A, 42 Willy's Jeep, and three newer cars. The older cars keep us busy because we go to swap meets to look for parts, we also go to a lot of car shows to get ideas on what we like and don't like.
I haven't picked this up yet, but since we have a hot rod, and will probably be getting 1 or 2 more, I have been tossing around the idea of saving up for a pinstriping set so I can do our own cars and its more personal. If I get good I can sell pinstriped stuff on ebay (mirrors, makeup cases etc). So I am really thinking of getting into that as well.
Some of my old hobbies are scrapbooking, photography, refinishing wood furniture, gardening, crocheting, painting, gutair, stenciling, making soaps/candles. I really like the hobbies that you can give the outcome to people you know (like making goody bags of soaps for friends, or giving candles out for Christmas to family).
Hope this helps.

Working at church gets me feeling great! I love when the kids call me "teacher". Lol. Helping those in need is a wonderful way to spend your time.
I love scrapbooking and gardening as well.