Passion is a funny thing….When you do anything for a period of time, your faith in your abilities or passion for the subject matter can wain. Where once you had seemingly boundless energy or enthusiasm for what you’re doing, there can be an overwhelming flatness or loss of direction. Why this happens can be an intensely individual thing, and I’m sure we’ve all had it at times.I know when I’ve found it happening to me, there’s a sense of loss. Maybe you hadn’t even noticed you’d lost that feeling for something you once enjoyed and got a kick out of. I guess the reason I bring this up is in part down to friends of mine for various reasons.Dan wrote a post on September 19th about how he’s feeling at the moment, the ups & downs, the uncertainty over the change he’s noticed. I’m sure there are a lot of us that can relate to how he’s feeling in some way. You can look over at peers or people whose work you admire and see how they appear to be driving forwards with the passion you felt you once had. What happened to it?It’s funny where our passions can take us. Side projects (like Dan’s Oozled project with Ryan Taylor), change of job, relocating; sometimes with sacrifices along the way. Naomi has had a dream she’s working damn hard to realise. Her project is around creating a place for independent design: Whosit & Whatsit. In doing that she’s found some great premises in Newcastle that she’s renovating at the moment. This isn’t a whim or a fun little side project; this is bricks and mortar, something real and tangible and that’s not without its many challenges. Designers can get on board to have their products for sale but more importantly we can all help support her passion by supporting her Indiegogo campaign (live until October 13th).Haje, originally a trained journalist and photographer, from a rough home-made prototype creating a fantastic product called TriggerTrap, raising funds through Kickstarter. From that project, working with a friend, it’s turned into a great company with multiple products and expanding team. He’s always had such passion for everything he’s done, you can’t help but admire it!I was lucky enough to bump into Gavin (or ‘The Undeniable Gavin Strange’ as I’ll now call him) again and see him on stage at Reasons to be Creative. He embodies everything about having passion for what you do through his work at Aardman, his own work as JamFactory, photography, film-making...and learning to play the drums. He’s self-deprecating as always but seemingly boundless with a sense of wonder.These angles on passion show me so much. Dan is a great designer, I wish I were half as talented, and I know somehow he’ll find that something to either rekindle that old passion or ignite a new one. I wish I knew what to say to him to help with that. I get the feeling that just being open to finding it again might be enough. Naomi has really put her money where her mouth is and is really trying to create something special, not just for the short term. I can only hope I’ll have that kind of conviction one day for something. I’ve long marvelled at Haje’s ability to always seem positive and enthusiastic but applying that to so many cool things that he puts out into the world. Gavin is all about passion. Give things a try, put everything you have into it and even if you don’t consider yourself that good, being open and positive and enthusiastic is more than half the battle. Awesome.I try to remember that it’s not everyone that finds something they’re passionate about for their job. While we might lose our way sometimes, we know what it is to have felt that way about what we do. I like to believe through time and a bit of introspection, we can find it again. Being around people doing things outside of our area of expertise and almost feeding off the expression of their passions can help. It’s not easy, but stay positive and open to trying new things; maybe it’ll come back again if you’ve lost it. If you have it, don’t be afraid to follow it.