Passion SUCKS
...And Why That’s Actually a Good Thing.

I was listening to my favorite podcast, Hidden Brain, the other day - highly recommend if you like being gently punched in the gut with insight - and I heard something that hasn’t let go of me since.

In many languages, the word “passion” shares a root with suffering. Passion isn’t about unbridled joy or perfect alignment. It’s about what we’re willing to endure. Passion is pain that we choose because the work means that much to us.

In Latin, the root word passio literally means “to suffer.” That same root shows up in French (passion), Spanish (pasión), and Italian (passione). But my favorite example might be from German, where the word for passion is Leidenschaft, which literally breaks down into “the act of suffering.”

So when we say, “I’m passionate about acting,” we’re not saying, “This brings me comfort and ease.”

We’re saying, “I’m seeking to be confused. I’m willing to not know. I’m ready to fall short. I’m craving to work a full-time job and then come home and put more work into the thing that may never pay me back in money but pays me in meaning.”

And here’s the kicker: Passion doesn’t always feel good.

Sometimes, when we’re too successful, our passion fades. The urgency is gone. The work becomes formulaic.

Other times, when we’re not successful enough, the passion dries up from exhaustion. We start asking, “What’s the point?” or “Why keep going?”

But the conversation on Hidden Brain offered a reframe I love:
Passion only stays alive when you never fully figure it out.

When you’re still learning.
When the questions are still bigger than the answers.
When the dissatisfaction becomes part of the fuel.

And that, honestly, feels like acting in a nutshell.

We chase the moment where it clicks, right? Where we lose ourselves in a scene or make a bold choice that even surprises us. But as soon as we try to replicate that exact feeling, it vanishes. Passion isn’t in the duplication. It’s in the discovery.

Every rejection we face? Part of the passion.
Every “You’re released” email? Part of the passion.
Every night we stare at some sides with utter imposter syndrome? Part of the passion.

It’s not a flaw in the system. It IS the system.

Part of the formula to keeping passion alive is never figuring it out.

The other part to the formula is acknowledging that dissatisfaction is a part of passion.

So if you’re in a season where the joy feels low and the doubts feel loud, maybe don’t ask, “Where did my passion go?”

Ask instead: Am I willing to keep suffering for this?

And if the answer is still yes, even with clenched teeth and a bruised heart… You’re right where you need to be.

See you on the ride.
–J