If you don’t yet have one, you might consider looking for one. What am I referring to? Why, a life-long love affair, of course!
The type of affair I’m speaking of is ok.
When my mom first taught me, “This is up. This is down. This is up and down. Let’s go up four, let’s come down four, let’s go up to here, let’s come down again”, I was hooked. I was fascinated that I could decide what sounds the piano would make. I knew it held mysteries of which I was yet unaware.
Everyone should have a life-long something.
I have had other interests in life: activities such as softball and choir. But there just isn’t anything like playing the piano. Even though there was a decade in my early adult life when I did not have access to one, I recognized that yearning buried just beneath the surface of my every day life. I needed a piano. Not wanted. NEEDED. Yes, I know, life can exist outside of playing the piano, but is it worth it? I’m not quite jesting. You see, without being passionate about something, without a life-long love affair with something, there is something missing. Everyone needs something. What that something is, is up to each person.
On again, off again.
I’m not even talking about a vocation or calling, necessarily. That, too, can be a great passion. Perhaps an overriding passion. Overriding even your something. Your life-long love affair with your something might be off and on, depending on the circumstances of your life. But it is something that you will always go back to.
Life-long is relative.
Do you enjoy playing an instrument? I enjoy playing the piano. Except for that one decade, playing the piano has been a part of me since the age of five. Some life-long love affairs begin later. Maybe at 40, or 50, or 60. But from that point on they are life-long. You don’t even have to be “good” at whatever your something is. Being good isn’t the point. Enjoyment, self-fulfillment, and self-expression are the important factors in this affair. Sharing your something with others can also be a part of this.
What is your life-long pursuit?
Amorous affairs, by definition, are short-lived and intense. (And if they contain sinful actions, are not appropriate.) Affairs with something we are passionate about could be short-lived as well, but I have found that having at least one that is life-long is quite satisfying for the soul. The ebb and flow of it is a pleasure. It is a place of stillness for me. What about you?
