I think there is a difference between living with passion and looking for passion to ignite otherwise monotonous existence.
You are a creative person and it is possible that the job you use to support yourself, which as we all know a necessary evil, does not suit your personality to realize the process of living with passion.
I tried doing jobs that were less than perfect for me and i found that even when i was making a lot of money, i was losing myself and feeling miserable.
I took a 12k pay cut to do what i enjoy and work in the ER as a regular staff nurse and even though i come home exhausted and smell like drunken anchovy's orgy , i feel better than i ever felt sitting at a desk in a clean office.
Relationships are a little harder to ditch when it doesnt fit quite right.
I prefer to be involved with people who are self-sustaining when it comes to drive for action, otherwise it does get boring.
My perfect match is when we feed off each other's energy, complimenting each other. I definitely do not look for my partner to provide me with thrills but rather get crazy together as equals.

Thanks, Aronia!

Financially, I'm doing OK from filming weddings and other family events on weekends, when the work is there, in the sense of just barely making ends meet. Of course, I want and need to be doing better financially than just barely making ends meet. I'm getting older and am going to need health insurance to cover the inevitable health issues that will pop up, plus eek out a retirement saving, because social security alone, assuming it will even be there when I'm 65, won't get it done.

And, like you said, I want to be doing something that I'm passionate about that also generates those bucks. I took a second job to better make ends meet, and the only job I could find that was willing to be flexible around my rather haphazard free-lance photography and video assignments schedule was security officer. I could care less about that job, find it tedious and sometimes downright annoying, saps my energy, causes mental fatigue. Obviously, that job has got to go, to be replaced with something else.

I'm looking to up the photography and video work during the week. It's got to be short-form, quick and easy projects to supplement and not interfere time-wise with weekend photography and video assignments. I just joined Thumbtack.com, which alledgedly pairs clients with service providers, and I have to pay for each lead to submit a bid (typically $3.33-$4.95 per bid). I paid for and submitted 2 bids. So far, nothing. I'm not giving those people hundred$ of dollar$ until their website starts generating paying work. I only need a lousy extra $200 a week to quit that shitty security guard job. One would think this wouldn't be too difficult!

Partner as equals. Sounds great, as long as we're happy with the equals that we are!

Thanks again.

You know, i was thinking since you have so much experience with photography, have you considering leading a meetups photography group?
We have one locally and it is really busy and a bunch of people get together for a really good time. Maybe this will get you more exposure and will tickle your passion lol
I, for example, have a big interest in unusual craft making and it would have been nice to have someone take real photos..
I really wanted to explore some clothing design from vegetation and other natural materials. I think that shoot would be really cool.
Florida has tons of greenery.. Unfortunately i am in NY ...

Yeah. Sponsoring a meetup group costs money. But, yeah, sponsoring a meetup group might lead to some good money-making connections, or at the very least, keep the passion for photography going.

There are OTHER people who have ALREADY set up photography meetup groups! I went to one one time. It was cool. I'm going to get back into that, thanks! Yeah, maybe we'll venture out to some nature preserves...

The Big Apple may not have lots of greenery, but the "concrete jungle" looks spectacular at night! I was there in October, 2001, just after the terrorist attacks, and got some gorgeous images. Brooklyn Bridge, Broadway, Times Square! Been out there at night with your cam and tripod?

I m upstate..:-) totally ok with the quiet life as i grew up in a large city.

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

I think that's the trick. It's not our successes and failures that define us. It's our awareness, what value we attach to them and how we react.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, whatever happens to you, there you are. The same deep, inner you that is never, ever changed by circumstance.

The witness and observer of not only the outer world, but also the inner world of thought and emotion.

I've seen you quote that poem before, Justa ( IF, by Rudyard Kipling) I looked it up and printed it out.

I love it... can't remember if I thanked you... so thanks!

As for the original post.. Is Passion something we are all looking for? I'm not sure, my first instinct is to say no, Or maybe I agree with it's just inside of us. hmmmm I'm going to think about it!

Thank you peeps!

From my perspective, passion is one of those things that just can't be sought or forced. We stumble upon it, perhaps out of curiosity, sometimes out of necessity, other times purely by accident.

Sometimes the harder we seek a thing, the further it's removed from our grasp.

What I think I'm most passionate about is simple curiosity. Every now and then that leads to a seed being planted that grows and blooms into something I might say I have passion for.

I guess it's one of those things I never know until I know...

Like William Hurt's character Eddie Jessup in the movie Altered States, right, SimpleGuy lol?

Hahah, Altered States!

I'll tell ya, back in my wild & crazy youth I was almost there, but for the isolation chamber. Had lots of amazing experiences, including two that I still have no rational explanation for. :-)