Hobby versus Passion

I had this conversation with someone the other day:

Shannon:  I just finished hooping.
Several minutes later....
Friend: Oh, so you play?
S:  What?
F:  Basketball.
S:  Uh no. I hula hoop.
F: Ohhhh. So it's like a gym thing.
S:  No.  It's for fun and all that stuff.
F:  Oh, so it's a hobby.
S:  Nooo.  It's a passion.
Silence.

How come I got so insulted when someone compared hooping to a hobby?  I've had hobbies before.  Sewing is a hobby.  Reading about the paranormal is a hobby.  Knitting and writing is borderline hobby/passion. I posted this on my facebook page and the lovely Paige commented that it's a lifestyle.  At first, I mentally recoiled because I just couldn't think that it was a lifestyle.  Lifestyle seems so finite.  After some thought on the process, maybe it's true.  I'm telling my husband to find places that are hooping friendly.  I've even said that I did not give a flying shit about anything except if I have an outdoor/indoor hooping space. 

What is the difference between hobby and passion?  Knitting and writing are borderline.  They have taught me numerous things that stick with me on the daily basis.  How does hooping come into my life daily?  Today I caught a flying shirt at work that I do not believe that I would have done that a year ago.  It was so fast that my coworker missed my skillz. That's a fast reflex due to learning tosses with my hoop.  The other day someone threw a brief at me and I caught it behind my back.  It was pretty bad ass.  I watch my footing around my job and it feels like I'm trying to dance around at times.  I still fall on my ass at times.  Of course, I stream my life around hooping at times.  I stay up late so that I can hoop. I'm hoping with a different place that I can hoop in the evening.  I think about hooping all the time.

With all this time, physical and mental anguish, I can't help but feel extremely insulted when it's just a hobby.  I've worked harder at hooping than I've ever worked at anything.  It's like comparing someone building a super computer to just a netbook.  It's not the same thing.  Maybe it is a lifestyle.  Maybe it's a passion.  All I know it's not just a hobby and it's not a fad.

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