We all have a passion, or at least most of us do. I always wonder about the people who don’t have a passion for anything. I know a few people like that. Although my passions have changed over the years they always seemed to be themed around the outdoors. You see, a while ago my passion was hunting, but for me it was never really about hunting as much as just being in the outdoors, and when I got into archery and turkey hunting I totally lived it, after all it was another excuse to be in the outdoors. But as I relocated closer to the metro areas I discovered the opportunities for hunting were not like in Central Pennsylvania, so I had to switch to the outdoor activities that were available, and that’s when I took a giant leap into paddling canoes and kayaks…a likely choice for an outdoor enthusiast.
Just paddling along.
So I have been canoeing for over twenty years but about ten years ago is when I actually jumped from being an occasional canoeist to an avid paddler. The reason I made the switch from hunting to paddling was because of opportunity (there are more opportunities to paddle in the Philadelphia area than there are to hunt), and as I developed my passion for paddling I naturally increased my paddling skills and added more adventure by taking more risk. But lately I wondered how much longer I could maintain my passion for paddling and can I hold out long enough to see those places I haven’t seen yet. For example, I haven’t even begun to experience wilderness canoeing the way I want to. I’ve paddled the Adirondacks a few times but haven’t really scratched the surface, and I’ve never even made it to the Boundary Waters yet – that was in my 2010 paddling plans.
Life is calling. Are you ready?
So there I was back in November and December 2009 glued to my computer screens about fifteen hours every day, seven days a week optimizing my affiliate campaigns; I’d take a break from it about two or three times per week to walk in the woods or take a canoe or kayak out for a few hours. My goal was to knock out as many PPC campaigns as I could during the holiday shopping season, but as life interfered I ended up in the hospital on December 17th with a heart attack. I’m not talking the mild heart attack but I mean the kind that can bury you. Some would call it bad luck having a heart attack at my age but it was actually genetics and my doctors failure to take my health complaints seriously that resulted in the heart attack. Several in my family had heart attacks at a relatively young age and a few have died. I call it good luck that I somehow survived the whole thing.
Where are my priorities?
So during my second day in the hospital one of my first questions to the doctor was could I ever go wilderness canoeing again? He of course replied that it was too early to determine and I should just worry about recovering my heart. Others advised that I probably couldn’t go wilderness canoeing again…it was all very hard to take. You see, it’s not as simple as just losing a hobby, it’s about losing a lifestyle that I’m very passionate about, and all over a blocked artery that could have been easily discovered with a stress test.
Coming around full circle.
So there I was several days after my release from the hospital struggling to push a shopping cart through the grocery store while thinking that only a few weeks ago I 
portaged a 67 lb canoe and camping gear twelve miles through the Adirondacks, and also thinking that I’d never see the Adirondacks from that point of view again. Suddenly I looked up and saw a long line of angry looking shoppers standing at the check out line. I think I smiled at that very moment because I was too happy to be standing in line with the people at the supermarket.
Nearly three months have passed since my hospital release and I’m told by doctors that I’m recovering very well and could even consider wilderness canoeing again in the future. I’m not sure if I would ever risk four days of canoeing deep in the remote locations like I have in the past but now I know I can at least do it on a slightly less extreme level. That’s much better than not doing it at all.
It’s back to turkey hunting.
Some would call what happened to me bad luck, and at times it’s easy to feel sorry for myself by thinking that way, but I really get a kick out of thinking the glass is half full and I have the world in my hands…because I am still here. I have many friends my age who are no longer here. I’m thrilled to be able to “eventually” go paddling again, walk in the woods, plant my strawberry plants, and even stand in a grocery line with the angry shoppers. If things go well I’ll canoe again in three or four months and I’m hopeful for a short, less extreme Boundary Waters canoe trip in five or six months. But until then I’ll be doing something else I was once very passionate about and that is turkey hunting. It’s a little easier on the heart and I still get my time in the outdoors. Seems that I’m coming around to full circle, because turkey hunting is where my outdoor passion began.
Thanks to our passions.
Whether yours is the outdoors, Internet marketing, raising your children, traveling, or being a social media advocate, passions are the things that creates our place in life and keeps us going. If you don’t have one go find one. And if you are one of the lucky ones maybe you’ll get to earn a living from one of your passions, like I do.
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