Stop the Madness!

One of my friends has just discovered thespianism, and it has proceeded to take over his life. He eats thespianism, drinks thespianism, and meets fellow thespians several times a week to talk, rehearse, and just hang out. His life has new passion, new friends, and it's like everything is new again; he sees his world in a different way.

So what does this have to do with me? I'm discovering that my commitment to square dancing borders on the same kind of obsession. Yesterday, I spent three hours working on square dance sequences, two hours reviewing Challenge 1 definitions, and another two hours dancing. That's nearly a full-time job. Ron thinks I have Compulsive Dance Disorder (CDD), while Tim think that my behavior is rational and perfectly normal.

I believe that CDD has given me more empathy to sufferers from related maladies. Anytime one experiences a true life-changing experience, the resulting changes do border on compulsions - to learn more, to experience the change more deeply, to recontextualize one's life around the change. This usually disrupts sleeping, eating, and work schedules.

Do you have a passion? Did it radically reconstruct your life? Were you touched and moved in ways that turned a drab existence into a colorful, rich journey that brings purpose, resolve, and joy to your life? If you haven't discovered a passion, the day is not too late. If you're a driven, joyful person engaged on an exciting journey to a new place, you're one lucky person!