Dive into curiosity

On Friday I was at the Di’namik bouldering competition at The Front and met two lovely people who just moved to Salt Lake City form LA and Chicago. By the way, The Front is a rock climbing gym in Salt Lake City and bouldering is a form of rock climbing. Anyway, we were talking about what a great gym The Front is and the how facility is out of this world. We also talked about our lives, career, hobbies, ectara. They told me they’re flight attendants, who like the gym, running, and yoga. I shared some of my story that I’m a hairdresser who climbs, practices yoga, bikes around the city, and am a drag queen.

The gentlemen, John, said, “Wow you do a lot!” This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. I’ve received similar responses from my clients and friends, they ask, “How do you find the time?” or “I wish I was as motivated as you.” Or my favorite. “I’m not that passionate about anything, you’re lucky to have found a job your passionate about.” I never know how to respond to any of this. With John I simply said, “Yes I do, and I love it.” As I chuckle uncomfortably.
 
This week I want to share with you my idea or theory on finding passion in life.

Everything in life starts with curiosity, the classes we take in school, the jobs we take, the people we talk to, it all begins with curiosity. Finding something or someone that sparks a light deep within us. If we don’t explore that small light it will slowly die out and vanish, but if we explore that curiosity, my sense is you will surprise yourself. This is how all great journeys and passions are discovered, not simply by mentally observing on the wonders in our mind, but by physically acting out and exploring the biggest and smallest wonders of the world.

All remarkable stories begin with a spark of curiosity. In Star Wars A New Hope, R2-D2 finds their way to Luke Skywalker with a message from Princess Leia, that message sparked a curiosity in Luke that lead him to Obi Wan Kenobi, Obi Wan sparked Luke’s curiosity in The Force that lead him on an adventure that changed his world forever… and changed the galaxy forever. The world-famous hairdresser, Vidal Sassoon was trigged and inspired when he looked at architecture, he asked himself if he could take similar geometry and apply it to hairdressing. That wonderment led him to change the world of hairdressing forever, giving us beautiful, timeless, classic shapes like the five-point haircut, graduated bobs, and bobs with an increase of length in the face (A-lines).

Curiosity leads us to change the world forever, it may not influence on a vast scale in the way Sassoon or George Lucas did, but it can shift our world forever and in turn the way we look at the world. If our perspective changes on the world, the world unfolds and changes before our eyes. It takes one step in any direction to unfold a path that we never knew existed or could exist.

Anything that sparks a light in us should be explored, let’s say you’re interested in photography, take some classes, get a camera, and the more you dive into that curiosity you will discover more and more about yourself. If this doesn’t fulfill you, put the camera away and explore the next curiosity, just because you’re not interested in something anymore doesn’t mean you should stop exploring other things of interest, it means you need to explore the next curiosity.

Before I began designing wigs for Utah Opera I was curious about what that entailed, I worked towards designing a show and after I got the position and did it for a brief time I realized it was not fulfilling, so I let it go and moved onto the next curiosity. After graduating college, I explored going into Psychology as a career, after diving into the curiosity I decided it was not a fit, I let it go and moved on. 

Explore interests and the wonders of your mind, taste a sample of what makes you curious, ask yourself questions. Make a list of every single interest you have; no matter how small and large they maybe, write it all down, and slowly explore them. If you are restricted to explore them because of cost or your location, explore the ones you can, or find what these interests have in common and explore the commonality of them all. The age of technology has propelled the human experience in such a way that you literally hold a tool in your hand to dive into the world. Of course, I am referring to your smart phone, the internet has made it incredibly simple to learn and explore the world we live in.

On a final note; life is short, time is fleeting, and life is impermeant. If we do not explore our interests today, that spark of curiosity will only slowly fade away and become a dual light in the background. The reality is that in the end we will die, and we do not know when or how, so we need to live as if it’s our last day, we need to explore the cracks of curiosity before it’s to late. Unleash the wonder junkie that is in all of us, find love for the world, and enjoy the wonderment of it all.

Become the Luke Skywalker in the movie that is your life. 
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DJH