Being paid for doing something that you enjoy is one of the most satisfying experiences. However, not all jobs offer this opportunity and many people earn a living from performing tasks they are not over the moon with.
Passion often comes up when it comes to job happiness and fulfilment. Being passionate at work enhances the pursuit of excellence and increases commitment and performance. Passion can either flourish, diminish or disappear when put in certain work environments. Employers and companies that provide conducive work milieu and implement management practices that respect, motivate and reward fairly unlock employees’ passion for performing well.
Since not everyone has a passion for their profession, pursuing it outside work can also improve one’s job satisfaction and well-being. Passions are not precisely the same as with hobbies. Passion is doing something you enjoy and have an overwhelming feeling of devotion even when it is difficult and stressful, but the result is worth the effort. Whereas, a hobby is something you do when you have free time, are feeling bored, or want to relax.
Engaging in activities with passion or having a hobby can reduce stress, provide opportunities to socialise, improve skill and confidence, and increase the level of alertness and creativity. As we have to juggle home, work and passion or hobby, we multi-task; therefore, we become skilled in organising priorities. In the process, we also develop our analytical and decision-making ability.
Passion plus hard work goes farther than natural talent. My passion is storytelling in the written form. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I finished my novel ''The Whisper of Regrets'', which explores real societal and relationship issues and is written in plain English. I have an inconsiderably slim chance of winning this August’s Amazon story competition, but as Alfred Lord Tennyson had said, “It’s better to have tried and failed than to live life wondering what would’ve happened if I had tried.” A little help goes a long way; so, I hope you’ll check it out.
Whereas, my acquaintance and fellow chess player (Said), who has postgraduate degrees in physics and engineering and works in these domains, has become a pundit on plants in Kabylia, Algeria. Likewise, my Aussie friend Loida spends nights and days drawing, painting, and taking panoramic photographs with joy and patience.
It is idealistic to say “have a passion” or “follow your passion”. The truth is that those who have a passion to follow are not numerous. Some people do not wish to have one because they have witnessed passionate people sacrificing their time and money to keep doing it with little or no visible short-term return. I believe it is easier to have a hobby than forced yourself to have a passion. Of course, a hobby can turn into a passion.
According to Good.CoTeam (seen on 01/08/20), the top 8 hobbies that boost employability are
Endurance sports, e.g. running and swimming;
High-risk pursuits, e.g. mountain climbing and sky diving;
Creative hobbies tasks, e.g. cooking and photography;
Team sports, e.g. football and softball;
Strategic mind games, e.g. chess and Sudoku;
Creative writing, e.g. poetry, short stories or a personal blog;
Reading, museums, libraries; and
Community group involvement.
These hobbies suggest that you are comfortable collaborating with others. As well, you could be seen as a particularly good personality fit for managerial roles. The caveat is that fabricating an interest in certain activities backfires. For instance, you have written ‘playing foosball’ as a hobby in your resume; when asked to join a team to compete in an inter-company tournament, you refused because you could hardly hit the ball.
It is worthwhile to discover, rediscover or harness our passion and hobby to live and work satisfyingly. These are some of the hobbies that do not cost money: aerobics or fitness exercise at home, bird watching, gardening (for yourself, neighbours and community), reading, running, stargazing, volunteering, walking, watching documentaries, and writing.
Meanwhile, the world’s unemployment rate is alarming. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported on 09/06/2020 that the number of unemployed people in the OECD countries alone increased by 18.4 million to 55 million last April. Moreover, to feed and shelter their families, millions of women and men have accepted jobs they are overqualified to do or in workplaces where they are undervalued. The passion for their career has long evaporated into thin air due to circumstances beyond their control. Also, some have their passions and hobbies constrained by time, as they have to look for work, do shifts, or take care of their children and elderly family members.
Passion can be an act of kindness; hobby can be skyping, zooming, facetiming, whatsapping or telephoning friends and relatives who live alone.
I visited Okinawa last month. Okinawa hosts 74 % of the U.S. bases on 0.6 % of the land. Despite overwhelming opposition, the Japanese government is taking the lead in efforts to build a new U.S. military base in Henoko Bay, emphasizing the deterrence value of the U.S. bases in Japan. Our policy makers want to proceed with the construction "shuku shuku to (calmly and solemnly)."
It is shockingly mindless and undemocratic to disregard the Okinawans' will. Here are some of useful websites on anti-U.S. base acitivities and protests (see the Japanese version – four of eleven sites are in English).
辺野古(新基地阻止)基金
[[http:tamutamu2011.kuronowish.com/sosikikin.htm|Tamu Tamu @ Kuro no wish]]
Economics of U.S. base redevelopment sway Okinawa mindset
[[http:www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/05/17/national/politics-diplomacy/economics-u-s-base-redevelopment-sway-okinawa-mindset/#.VWg8NFIppf6|Japan Times Journal]]
Looking at Flaws in the Henoko Landfill Permit Process from the Standpoint of the Right to Self-determination
Kitano Takeshi’s Elementary Schools and Japanese Schools in Benin
About three months ago, I wrote a blog article on the children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in Malawi and the importance of education as a critical instrument for social and economic development (or human development). Admittedly, what I wrote may be too crazy or too utopian to be realized.
But, we humans sometimes think alike. By chance, I learned about a Japanese guy who has already put the similar ideas into practice. That is Mr. Takeshi Kitano (Beat Takeshi)! What?! Is he an activist beside being a filmmaker and a comedian? According to these Youtube, Takeshi Kitano used to have a TV show called “This is what is strange about the Japanese people.” A hundred foreigners living in Japan were invited to voice their observations about weird and negative aspects of Nihon. One of the guests was Mr. Zomahoun Idossou Rufin (known as Zomahon), from the Republic of Benin in West Africa.
That was how Zomahon met Takeshi twelve years ago or so. With the help of Takeshi, Zomahon built four schools in his country including Takeshi’s Elementary School and Takeshi Japanese School.
In the school lunch program in Benin, according to Takeshi, it costs 25 yens (about 25 cents in the USA) and there are kids who can afford it and those who cannot afford it. “It is cruel that those kids have to watch the others eating.” So, they have established a sort of child sponsorship. Becoming a sponsor, a supporter in Japan receives a photograph of the child and vice versa, and that’s how they make a bond of friendship.
In their elementary schools, they provide free education and free lunch for kids. They also help the local people to grow agricultural products. Among the graduates from these schools, those who have mastered the language are sent to Japan, trained to be medical doctors and other professionals, and they work in Japan for certain years. They eventually return to Benin and work for their country.
"Suppose, some kids succeed in graduating from universities and become important one day. It is cool if s/he visits Japan to meet a person who has treated to lunches, isn't it?,” Beat Takeshi remarks.
In Youtube, you will see that some Beninese graduates prostrate themselves on the ground to show their gratitude. Humble Takeshi seems to get self-conscious and in order to hide that, he makes a joke, “Zomahon sometimes does the same thing when we meet. And, it makes me look bad like a bully!”