Passion vs. Talent

Passion. Passion as defined by wikipedia is as follows...

Passion is a term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something.

Talent. Talent as defined by dictionary.com is...

tal·ent

 

noun

1.

a special natural ability or aptitude: a talent for drawing.

2.

a capacity for achievement or success; ability: young men oftalent.

3.

a talented  person: The cast includes many of the theater's majortalents.

4.

a group of persons with special ability: an exhibition ofwatercolors by the local talent.

So let's look at passion for a moment. Passion is a very strong feeling about a person or thing. An intense emotion. To me passion is a God given or learned emotion for something or someone. Passion can be fueled by environment and be something you are born with. For example some might have a passion for hard work after watching their dad work hard all of their life. Or a child might develop a passion for horseriding because their best friend has a horse. Someone may develop a passion for the french language because it was the only available elective in school for them to take. Passions can go unnoticed if not developed and passions can be found in the things you never thought you would like.[sidenote: I developed a passion for french. I wanted to take spanish and had hated french but it was the only language with spots left. Who knew I would fall in love with not only the language but the culture.]

Talent. Talent is a natural, God given ability. Something you are born with. A good example of this is Athletes. Some athletes are just born to be athletic. It's like it is in their blood. Models, anyone? Did you know to be a successful model you must be about 5'9" in height? That is TALL for a woman. God given talent, right? 

So, what do you do when you have the passion but not the talent? Well, you can work hard, sure. You can put all of your money, time, and ability to make yourself as great at your passion as you can get. But what happens if that's not enough? What happens if you love something so much it hurts but you just don't have enough talent? Do you give up? Do you just continue singing to your showerhead because no one else wants to hear your voice? Do you just continue dancing in front of the mirror? Or playing hoops at the park because no one will let you play on their team? Hard work pays off. Always. But hard work can only take you so far....it's that natural ability that can set you apart from everyone else and puts you on top.

This is something I have struggled with my entire life. I'm honestly not even sure what God wanted with me sometimes. I don't have many talents. I have passions. STRONG passions. But natural abilities and talents just don't line up with my passions. I find myself questioning my goals all of the time because I just don't know what I'm meant to do. If I could pursue my passions I would be the happiest person in the world but I know I don't have the talent to do so. So what then? Give up my dreams and keep quiet? Go after them knowing I'm only going to get rejection? I sure wish I had some answers.