What to Do When Passion Fades

This marks the final letter in my A-Z series.

Z is for zeal.

What do you do when the feeling is gone? When the work you once loved starts to feel heavy, when progress slows, when the vision that once thrilled you now requires patience, endurance, and obedience?

We talk a lot about enthusiasm. We celebrate passion. But what actually carries a person when both begin to fade?

Zeal.

What is zeal? Why does it matter? How do we become more zealous?

Let’s find out.

What Zeal Is Not

I’m not a runner, but seven years ago I ran the New York City Marathon.

Twenty-six point two miles. God knows why people choose to do it, but I put my name into the lottery, got selected, and somehow found myself at the starting line.

It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and it taught me something I still think about.

The first ten miles are great.

You’re running through Brooklyn, people are cheering, spirits are high, everyone’s smiling, high-fiving, feeling alive. The energy carries you. The adrenaline carries you. The crowd carries you.

That’s enthusiasm.

Nothing great was ever started without enthusiasm.

When I first started making videos, that’s what drove me too. Filming was fun. Talking to strangers was exciting. Editing felt like solving a puzzle. The whole thing was fresh.

Then, over time, that early excitement began to deepen into something else.

As the videos started to grow, as they began having more impact, as the work slowly revealed a deeper mission and purpose, I began to be driven not just by excitement, but by passion.

A deeper care. A stronger sense that this work mattered.

Passion is different from enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the spark. Passion is when the fire catches.

In the marathon, passion hit me at mile 16, entering First Avenue in Manhattan. More than halfway through, crowds screaming, noise everywhere, energy surging back into your body.

I remember feeling amazing. So amazing, in fact, that I started passing other runners and picked up the pace.

Rookie mistake.

By mile 20, I hit the infamous wall.

My legs stopped doing what my mind was telling them to do. And then even my mind started to go quiet.

I remember thinking, very plainly, I’m not sure I can finish this race.

I’m not sure I’m going to be okay.

It’s a fear that has hounded me my whole life.

When growth slows on my social media platforms, when sponsorship deals fall through, when the algorithm changes - that fear gets louder and I need to tap into something deeper to keep going.

What Zeal Is

If enthusiasm is the spark, and passion is the rising fire, zeal is the fire that has learned to burn long.

For me, zeal is action rooted in conviction.

Keyword: conviction.

At the end of the day, what are your truest, fundamental beliefs that drive you? Because when push comes to shove, when rubber meets the road, conviction is what determines how you come out the other side.

What you actually believe comes out when that belief is hard to sustain.

Zeal is that sustaining, and can look like…

• the under-slept mother waking up at 2 a.m. to feed her crying baby because love has made a claim on her

• the teacher showing up for another class after a hard week - because they believe their presence may shape a life in ways they will never fully see

• the office worker doing honest, careful work while tired, overlooked, and under pressure - because they believe responsibility still matters, even when recognition does not come

• the artist making another piece after months of doubt and silence - because they believe the calling is still real, even when the response is not

• the believer saying one more prayer in a season that feels quiet - because somewhere beneath the numbness is the conviction that God is still there, still listening, still worth turning toward

Zeal is conviction embodied.

It’s one thing to say God is good when life is moving.

It’s another thing to say it when progress has stalled.

It’s one thing to believe your work matters when the response is strong.

It’s another thing to believe it when nothing seems to be landing.

That’s where zeal is forged - not in the exciting beginning, but at the places where life tests your beliefs, reveals them, and refines them into something deeper.

Zeal turns belief into conviction.

Past the Wall

By mile 23, I had entered Central Park.

So close, but still so far.

At that point I wasn’t really running anymore. I was wobbling. A sort of withered shuffle that probably wasn’t the best look.

I was trying not to fall, because I knew if I went down, I probably wasn’t getting back up.

I was desperate for help.

I put in my earbuds and turned on Christian worship music. I told God I wanted Him. I started getting emotional. Tears started welling up.

Then I thought, wait no, this is not the time for crying, I will fall down.

I took the earbuds back out.

At that point my body was spent. My mind was spent. Nothing physical in me was really working the way it should.

The only thing I had left was spirit. Belief.

At that moment I didn’t necessarily believe I would finish the race, but I…

Believed I could keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Believed in my friends and family who had come out to cheer for me, who were following me along online.

Believed something larger than me was with me.

These were beliefs that had quietly shaped my life up until the marathon, were shaped by the marathon, and that, slowly but surely, got me to the finish line.

How Zeal Is Formed

Zeal is forged when your belief has reached its limit. Zeal is formed at the intersection of belief and doubt.

Because sometimes conviction does not begin as a feeling. Sometimes it begins as an act of faith.

You do not feel that God is for you, but you take one more step as though He is.

You do not feel certain the work will matter, but you make one more video anyway.

You do not feel full of faith, but you say one more prayer.

Action begets belief, belief deepens into conviction, and conviction becomes zeal. 

Sometimes zeal is not the whirlwind.

Not the fire.

Not the earthquake.

Sometimes zeal is the still, small voice that says:

I am with you, keep going.

For those in a difficult season

Maybe you are in a quiet or difficult season right now.

Maybe you are wondering how it will all work out.

Maybe you are doubting whether you’ll be okay.

Maybe you are struggling to believe that God’s plans for you are good.

Let me suggest something:

Maybe you are not off course.

Maybe your convictions are being formed.

Maybe you’re right where you’re supposed to be.

Not because pain is good in itself.

Not because uncertainty is easy.

But because there are some things only the wall can reveal - and refine.

The world doesn’t only need enthusiastic and passionate people, it needs people with conviction.

It needs your zeal when it has learned how to burn long.

To be sure, I am not supporting burnout; rest is a part of zeal. If you need to rest, rest.

But then keep going, come back to your convictions, come back to your zeal.

With curiosity,
Eric

PS: I have a few more spots left in my Kindred Story Circle group starting in April! If you’re in a season of transition, if you need more conviction, or if you have a story you want to tell, this is an online story-work group where you’ll be guided in writing and sharing your story in a safe, open container. You can read more details here.

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