PASSION
How to feel Passion
A shift from apathy to passion reveals what really matters and why.
Superpowers used: sleep, nourishment, movement, awe
Other superpowers may be used as well. View all powers to shift states here.
Stop Feeling Apathy
Apathy is unlike every other feeling because it manifests as lack of feeling.
It is sinister because it can disguise itself as neutral by not being experienced as a negative feeling. Then, it can grow its roots inside, quietly spreading its toxicity without you feeling like you need to make a change.
If you're depressed, the pain is unbearable and you want to do something about it. But if you're apathetic, you're just numb – and a lot of damage can be done when you can't feel anything.
It's similar to the fable of the frog in boiling water. If you put a frog in boiling water, they jump out, but if you put a frog in tepid water and slowly increase the heat, they remain even as the water starts to boil.
Apathy can be like that. Shift states to sever the roots before they take hold.
Where does apathy come from?
It may appear for different reasons, but at the core, apathy produces a negative outlook of the future.
Here are just some of the reasons you may be feeling apathetic.
Why are you feeling apathetic?
Boredom: by repeating the same patterns with few deviations, your brain adapts to the environment and runs on autopilot.
Eventually, it feels safe in this tiny bubble and & convinces you to stay there even if you're feeling bored. This can often occur in sedentary lifestyles.
But this lack of novelty blinds you from all the things that are possible.
Boredom slowly robs meaning from life, and over time, can transform into apathy.
Overstimulation: with too many things to experience, it's not difficult to feel overwhelmed.
This can create the state of what's known as 'paralysis by analysis' where you end up doing nothing because you feel overwhelmed by the pressure to choose. To combat this, your body may turn 'off' and as a result, you feel apathetic.
This may happen from fatigue as well. After spending so much energy trying to keep up with all the stimulations in your environment, it can be difficult to discern what's important.
Instead of choosing, you may end up just feeling nothing.
Hopelessness: if you're feeling hopeless – like no matter what you do it won't matter – apathy is waiting on the other side.
After experiencing a traumatic event, or when we feel as though we've lost everything and there's no hope, our bodies may try to protect us by switching into 'safe mode.'
Otherwise known as apathy.
Apathy isn't safe
Apathy is a good liar. It subtly convinces you to release your agency of control. Then moves in.
It tells you it's okay if you're bored because it doesn't matter anyway. It does.
If you're overstimulated, apathy warns you of all the possible bad choices you could make and convinces you to not choose. You should.
If you're hopeless, apathy consoles you by saying that it doesn't really matter anyway. Bullshit. It does.
Apathy has the power to alter one's lens of perception from positive to negative more than any other emotion – not because it is overpowering, but exactly because it is not.
It's like the common cold. The virus has learned it doesn't spread all that often when you're so sick you stay at home all day.
But if you feel just good enough, it can get you to work sneezing itself all over the office.
Don't underestimate the seemingly neutral feeling of apathy. It's not centric. It's sinister.
Reconnecting to the truth
The truth is, what you do does matter.
You matter.
The choices you make and who you decide to be affects everyone around you. Then it affects everyone around them.
How you show up affects the world and how the world is treated. This is a fact.
Some people may argue whether things really matter since everything will one day simply disintegrate when the sun blows up.
I say to them: go help someone. It matters to them. And that's enough.
Why you should shift quickly
Unlike many other feelings, there isn't a lot to learn from apathy.
We can learn from sadness, from anger, from shame – but what can apathy teach?
By itself, nothing. You may be able to learn from the course that got you there but there are no inherent lessons within apathy.
Add that to its sinister traits and you have a strong case for shifting out of apathy as quickly as possible.
Here are four superpowers that can shift you from apathy to passion: movement, awe, nourishment, and sleep.