Passionate about... rambling?

Earlier today I had a discussion about chain smokers because a friend's friend's friend is apparently one, and is planning to quit. That led to a general discussion on addictions. And then passion. And then I got a little depressed. 

This has been something I've thought about a lot - passion. I like doing a lot of things but I have no passion. You know, for our wedding reception, my parents ordered a cake and decided to personalize it. Very sweet idea. So they put a Gator logo for H. Because you know, everyone knows what a crazy Gator fan he is. And then. A piano for me. A lameass piano! Why can't I have a cool passion like a favorite football team that I'd watch all day and all night? Yeah yeah I like playing the piano, but I'm neither good at it nor am I passionate about it. It's just something I like doing sometimes. You know how people forget everything else when their favorite team is playing, or when they're at a concert by their favorite band, or their favorite movie releasing time? I got nothing.

I cribbed about all this to a (patient) friend who then pointed out that I love playing games. If someone told me to play badminton or tennis all day, I probably would love that, yes. If I could go back to Muscat and play every evening with my perfect set of friends, yes I already feel excited thinking about it. When I moved to Chennai after high school, I was surprised to find absolutely no company to play. So I joined a club, and played badminton with people twice my age. Now that sounds really cool if you're a kid. But I was almost 20, so it meant I was playing with the aunties and uncles of Mylapore. And they were bloody good! I was also "selected" to be a part of the college team because there were only 3 girls in total that even wanted to play. We of course didn't win any tournaments but I loved going for them. Hmmm so maybe that is passion? Breathe.

Well, I know what you're thinking. WTF.. if your friend needs to remind you what you're passionate about, then it's probably not a passion. You're right. It probably isn't. Or maybe it is. But I just realized midway through this rambling that it doesn't matter. Everyone does not need to have a passion. It's just some weird peer pressure thing. The cliche that says "you have to find your passion and pursue it" is overrated at the least. I can just ramble on and on right here on my blog and not have any passions. And that's perfectly okay! Of course, if you are pursuing your passion and it's making you happy, then great! Congrats! For example, if you're a food critique. Or the host of a 'travel the world' show. But if your day job is to clean out the garbage cans in the city, don't get demoralized by these passion-preachers.