The Death of Passion in an Age of Multi-Tasking

I bet not many of you fell asleep recently with a band saw singing you a lullaby, punctuated only by the occasionally "Woo hoo!" from the craftsman working in the basement below your bedroom. On Thursday I spent the evening at my parent's house, my childhood home, where my father was engaged in his passion for woodworking. As I tried to mentally block out the noise from dad's power tools, I found myself thinking about passion. Not the romantic kind, but the hobby/pastime, non-human passion that can consume our every waking moment. I realized, to my slight dismay, that I am passionless (and to my dear husband, this is no time for a smart ass "I concur.").

As I pondered this realization a bit, a question came to mind: Can we have true passion in a multi-tasking world?

I've always prided myself on being an accomplished and generally highly effective multi-tasker. Being able to juggle multiple responsibilities definitely comes in handy both in motherhood and marketing. But multi-tasking basically means I'm meeting the basic requirements of lots of different things while not passionately embracing any of them.

As technology aids and abets us in our drive to do more in less time, I wonder what's being lost. How many beautiful pieces of music and classics of literature have been created while multi-tasking? Can awe-inspiring cathedrals and works of art come to life without the maker's all-consuming passion? Do star athletes excel and masters of stage and screen move us while multi-tasking? In her latest book, Reboot: Refreshing Your Faith in a High-tech World, Peggy Kendall even wonders whether we can have a true and fulfilling relationship with our no-tech God when we're living these high-tech, multitasking lives.

As I write this I am home alone, in unusual peace and quiet, early on Saturday evening. I am not checking email as I type. I am not cooking dinner simultaneously (which never works out well anyway). When I post it on Monday, I will be in my happy place, at the beach with two of my favorite things: a good book and good friends. I am going to challenge myself during my brief three-day vacation to indulge passionately in those favorite things and leave the multi-tasker in me at home.

Share what passion you could give in to if you weren't busy trying to do it all.