Lets give another perspective on passion. It is one of the perspectives that I have and heared no one else talk about. It's not the only true or right perspective there is, multiple views on passion are quite interesting and/or useful to have. This is just one of them and it should be told more.
Having passion is dangerous. Here are a couple of examples:
1. A couple of years ago, my then GF was at my place during the summer. For the first two weeks I didn't see her -- she was sitting next to me -- because I was completely hooked on a computer graphics final school project. The only thing I saw was my screen and I did the eat, sleep, code thing. I didn't know it was a thing, I had so much passion I just did it. She became very pissed. I didn't care. She became sad. I still didn't care. I was hooked, I was passionate. When I finished. the project I made it all up, but man, passion is dangerous.
2. There was this assignment for security class, it was really hard. I was pretty passionate about the security class, the education was amazing. The final day of the assignment was almost arriving. I decided to stay up and code for 25 hours straight -- well I didn't decide it, it just sort of happened. I couldn't even do simple arithmetic at the end of the day. I felt like shit, almost became ill, but I learned a lot and had a ton of fun. Still is this a healthy way to live? Passion is dangerous.
3. I used to play a lot of video games. Those are also the days that I only knew guys and was only social with fellow gamers. I knew nothing else. I wouldn't play much sports, I would slug through school and I'd always go back to the computer to play more games. I loved it, I was passionate, but the problem is I gave up so much. Passion is dangerous, really.
The thing is: when I feel passionate for an indeterminate amount of time. I really do not give a single f--- about the rest of the world, including the rest of my life. It is like drugs. Passion may be differently experience by people. I've learned that the way I experience passion is akin to addiction and it tends to deregulate my life and smash me of balance. So I try to steer clear from it when I recognize the addictive feeling part that comes with it.
An implicit 2nd perspective / idea that is in here that passion does not have to last a life time. In a lot of cases it lasts for a couple of weeks.
I wish I could summon this on demand. It is dangerous, but not as much as one may think. What I discovered thanks to random sparks of passion and frequent cases of procrastination is that a lot of the "rest of your life" is made of time-consuming bullshit and doesn't really need that much of an attention.
I'm in my end student phase. What needs attention for me is: my program, extracurriculars (e.g. a Buddhism class or random CS classes or doing a board), friends, girlfriend (when I have one) and hobbies (if I have one, really depends), sidejobs (when I have one). I have a general passion towards studying a lot, which my friends and especially my previous GF don't appreciate because I don't see them enough (to which I agree, e.g. friends would be once a month).
I do prefer a more balanced motivation that feels like "ah this is a marathon and I'm going to run it one step at a time."
How is passion different from ADHD hyperfocus and why does this sound more like ADHD hyperfocus? I mean, I'd describe this as passion. It might be that I see passion different from a lot of people or everyone has a different idea when they think about passion. Hence the question and curiosity.
Mainly that you said you have never heard anyone talk about passion in this respect as well as the description of ignoring loved ones. Speaking as someone diagnosed with ADHD, I have intense periods of hyperfocus where I can spend days on a topic to the detriment of my wife. It's possible that this is truly passion but over the last few years I've been able to "average" my hyperfocus so I don't go all in as often and then realize later that it may have been a passing notion that I can't sustain indefinitely.
If you're interested, the topic of hyperfocus comes up very often on the ADHD subreddit.
Having passion is dangerous. Here are a couple of examples:
1. A couple of years ago, my then GF was at my place during the summer. For the first two weeks I didn't see her -- she was sitting next to me -- because I was completely hooked on a computer graphics final school project. The only thing I saw was my screen and I did the eat, sleep, code thing. I didn't know it was a thing, I had so much passion I just did it. She became very pissed. I didn't care. She became sad. I still didn't care. I was hooked, I was passionate. When I finished. the project I made it all up, but man, passion is dangerous.
2. There was this assignment for security class, it was really hard. I was pretty passionate about the security class, the education was amazing. The final day of the assignment was almost arriving. I decided to stay up and code for 25 hours straight -- well I didn't decide it, it just sort of happened. I couldn't even do simple arithmetic at the end of the day. I felt like shit, almost became ill, but I learned a lot and had a ton of fun. Still is this a healthy way to live? Passion is dangerous.
3. I used to play a lot of video games. Those are also the days that I only knew guys and was only social with fellow gamers. I knew nothing else. I wouldn't play much sports, I would slug through school and I'd always go back to the computer to play more games. I loved it, I was passionate, but the problem is I gave up so much. Passion is dangerous, really.
The thing is: when I feel passionate for an indeterminate amount of time. I really do not give a single f--- about the rest of the world, including the rest of my life. It is like drugs. Passion may be differently experience by people. I've learned that the way I experience passion is akin to addiction and it tends to deregulate my life and smash me of balance. So I try to steer clear from it when I recognize the addictive feeling part that comes with it.
An implicit 2nd perspective / idea that is in here that passion does not have to last a life time. In a lot of cases it lasts for a couple of weeks.