Are You Suffering?

Sometimes I think pain is just a lack of understanding. If we could only understand it all, would we feel no pain? God must feel no pain. Does this mean even our suffering pleases him? — J. Cole “Once an Addict” on the album KOD.

The Summer of Hell didn’t start on July 10th 2017, for many, it starts on commencement day, every single year. For others it started the moment they were told “find your passion.”

The Summer of Hell started when we grabbed our diploma, a one way train ticket to our future. We thought we were catching an express train, instead it’s a local train, and every stop on the route looks exactly like our destination.

Where Does Passion Come From?

Steve Jobs said “People with passion can change the world.” He pretty much sealed our fate from there because that quote pretty much sums up the millennial stereotype. There’s no way to argue with a quote like that. How are we even supposed to make that quote mean anything so that it can be applied? I think we start out by looking at where passion comes from. Which immediately presents us with both sides of the question:

1. Where do you find passion (Where does it come from inside of us)?
2. How did passion become a buzzword for career advice (The etymology of the word)

To answer those, I think we first have to look at the gap between what those who use it (myself included) are looking for, and what they seem to be getting as a result of using this language to find it.

A survey on Millenials in the workforce used data gathered to conclude:

When it comes to their priorities, millennials rank “being in a role I’m passionate about” above salary and other benefits. . .

That insight in combination with the below observation makes it clear that there is a gap in what is being communicated to job seekers, and what they are actually experiencing.

“Though millennials have a reputation for job-hopping, it’s clear that’s not their intention,” Reilly-Howe told Ladders. “They want nothing more than to find the right place and stay put for a few years. They leave when they feel they aren’t valued.”

So the questions that come up are

1. Is job-hopping what allows one to find their “passion”
2. If it isn’t, why do we seem to not be able to find what it is we’re looking for? And if we aren’t finding what it is we’re looking for why aren’t we?

I don’t think anyone would argue that the availability of technology has made information more available to those who use the internet. However on the topic of finding a meaningful career, those who buy into the stereotypes associated with Millennials forget that the availability of information has had unintended, negative consequences.

It has given way to more career choices, and not only that but we are able to see in real time the progress of our peers in their careers. Not only that, but most don’t share the entire truth of their experiences. Add to that the fact that a rare few enter into higher education knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives, and those who do know what they want to do can feel pressured to alter that goal. So its safe to say the too much information, without each person being provided with the proper context is a recipe for feeling lost. And of course you could argue that sifting through this information and searching for your path is a part of growing up. But this feeling seems to still exist even after graduation.

So with all that being said, we have to consider the below:

Question 1:

Is it actually possible to find something you are passionate about?

• This is an important question, one where we have to consider what the real definition of passion is (i.e. the etymology of the word/where it — the word — comes from).

Question 2:

What is the true difference between passion and happiness? Can you have one without the other? Does passion hinder one’s ability to attain happiness?

• Life is suffering. Avoid extremes.

Question 3:

Is higher education an effective societal institution for helping students to figure out what they want to do with their lives? If so, why is the millennial generation still considered job-hoppers?

For one, older generations speak as if they found the job they landed in and. . . TA-DA! . . . but we know that’s not true. Take a look at the below excerpt from an economic news release from the bureau of labor statistics, and you’ll be convinced:

Individuals born in the latter years of the baby boom (1957-1964) held an average of 11.9 jobs from age 18 to age 50, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Nearly half of these jobs were held from ages 18 to 24.

Question 5:

Millennials are the largest generation in the work force, so why is this issue looked at as a small problem?

I think all of these questions have an answer rooted in the phrase “follow your passion.”

As stated earlier Steve Jobs said that “people with passion can change the world”, and he also said that “you can only connect the dots [for your career] looking backward.” Which when looked at together makes our future seem like it’s carved in stone. Combined with every successful person using buzzwords in commencement speeches and interviews, makes searching for true advice seem impossible.

Clarifying the phrase

So where does the phrase follow your passion become unclear? I believe it stems from:

1. The overuse of Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 hour rule”; the incentives inherent in the current business model of the book publishing industry; and the gaps inherent in social media where themes can be shared without the requirement to provide full context.

The fact of the matter is that even Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell is NOT a self help book. It is a work of non-fiction. There are no safeguards in place to provide proper context for the receipt of that information. Which can lead someone to run up hill, and against their natural talents and strengths. The book also uses a study in which violin players are examined. A more recent study looks at the nuances of how practice influences performance in various other domains (not just music).

See this business insider article for more information

2. The delay in time that it takes a book to be published (the life cycle of a publication from ideation to the time it hits the market, and when it eventually becomes mature and sales level out) are one of the many limits placed on making sure information in a book is as updated as possible. Along with:

• The obvious limits placed in the time it takes to print multiple copies of a book and ship them.
• The fact that the world is constantly changing, and new information is continuously added to the ecosystem.

“Passion” as I believe my generation defines it. . .

As being excited to wake up in the morning, having something to look forward to, being able to see the results of your efforts (make an impact), and doing something you are good at. . .

. . . lies somewhere on the continuum of constant life change and a sense of identity in one’s work. But it seems to me that because we only live each moment once, and because things change in the world and in our lives, that what we are able to create at each given moment will be different by definition. Which means that each new challenge is a sort of identity crisis that we have to overcome.

In essence, life is a constant work in progress. Like Penn Station, our lives are under construction. Not only are we the conductors, but we are the workers fixing the tracks, and we ride the train. If we want to steer the train toward a future that we feel is meaningful, and not just be passengers on the train, we have to stop using the phrase find your passion.

To do that, we have realize that although the dictionary definition of passion describes the word as referring to love AND hate, but the word passion comes from the Latin word passionem which means “suffering, enduring.” For example, Passion of the Christ.

This suffering comes from wanting to hold on to old patterns when by definition nothing in life is permanent. At the same time the fact that these things are not permanent is why we enjoy them.

No wonder New Yorkers are passionate about their commute in the Summer of Hell.

Commmuters, are you suffering? Now you know how it feels to follow your passion.