Learning to Love Something You are Not Passionate About

There are many reasons why we all need to learn to love things that we aren’t automatically passionate about. Let me enumerate a few:

1. It’s good for you: It’s an act of discipline. A lot of things that are required of us, aren’t automatically enjoyable. These are often things that are responsibilities thrust on us, either with friends or with family. Doing them might not be enjoyable, but it is often necessary. It is worth telling ourselves that these are character building exercises, so we learn to like them.

2. It’s practical: Let’s consider the average person who isn’t gifted. They need to earn a living, raise a family and support themselves (and possibly others). In the absence of any gift that can generate wealth by itself, we need to mould ourselves into careers that are, simply put, practical and well paying. Not everyone is a gifted musician, sportsman or singer. For the rest of us, we need to learn to love vocations and professions so that we can be productive members of society.

3. It’s inevitable: Even the most gifted of people will have to learn to love certain things. For instance, the gifted musician will still have to learn to put out the trash, learn to take care of his kids, or learn to be supportive to his spouse. Not all of this comes naturally to all of us, and we’re often faced with having to learn.

4. It can be fun: If we dismiss certain things without trying them, we develop a closed mind. We’re like horses with blinders on. In the course of learning to love things, we sometimes find things that we didn’t like, to be fun after all. This is a healthy trait, and broadens our horizons. It prevents us from becoming too cynical or judgmental.

5. It’s good for society: If all of us only did what we wanted to do, there would be no give-and-take in society. We’d become utterly selfish and self-absorbed. We will not be sympathetic to other causes. We’ll end up being wrapped up in our old words. By learning to love things that we aren’t passionate about, we’ll be open minded about others and their needs. This is a healthy trait for society as a whole.

In summary, it would be fair to say that each and every one of us needs to learn to love things we aren’t automatically passionate about. Not doing so would be detrimental to both one’s self as well as society.