Over time I've discovered several interests that probably meet the criteria of being passions. They wax and wane, and I find I usually burn really hot on them initially, go through a cooling off period, and come back eventually after having taken a break with something else. The frequency with which I come back tends to mark how big a passion it is for me.

A few examples of how I came across them:

- Photography -

Started working at a company where photography is front and center in everything I do. Started there with no real skills or gear, am currently several years in, have a DSLR, several lenses, am comfortable with Lightroom and Photoshop, understand photography technique, and am actually proud of some of my work. With the responsibilities of life eating up my time, these days I focus more on mobile device photography, and on taking fewer, better photos.

- Espresso -

Was introduced to this by someone at work who helped train me and guide me through getting gear. Got a home machine thinking it would be an easy way to get my espresso fix at home and realized how deep and nuanced the world of espresso is. Turns out, it tends to be a good match for data nerds who spend their day optimizing things. I've now built several spreadsheets modeling things like my savings over time, brew ratios, etc.

- Role-playing Games -

Lucked into randomly discovering where the Gygax family would meet to play D&D with their friends, and started playing every weekend with them in high school. Something about being with people who are at the "top of the game" (no pun intended), deeply passionate about it, and welcoming to newcomers likely made it easier for me to get immersed.

- Cooking -

Got sick of microwaved meals in college by week two. Discovered asian super markets a few blocks away, got some cookbooks and some gear, and started learning how to cook authentic asian cuisines. Then started reading up through Julia Childs "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," lived with a couple other passionate foodies, and never looked back.

If I had to pick out a few common threads between these, it would probably be that they had mechanisms for giving direct, and fairly immediate feedback, room to optimize so I could see tangible gains from my efforts, and that I was exposed to others who were similarly passionate, and often more experienced. This last bit is critical I think as it let my passion continue growing without being dampened by others around me not having as much interest in them. Ie. when you start geeking out about something and someone is clearly getting bored, that lessens my excitement. On the flip side, when they start geeking out too, we start building on each other's excitement, and it reinforces the enjoyment I get from the passion.

In terms of discovering new passions, it tends to be somewhat random, but now I'm actively on the lookout having discovered a few so far. Shockingly, Reddit has been useful for helping gauge where I'm mildly interested, or potentially on the verge of finding a passion. When something catches my interest, I browse the main subreddit for it, and if I find I'm losing hours of time consuming everything there, that's a fairly good indicator.

Another thing that is somewhat obvious only in hindsight, is to ask others about their passions. There's so many random things to discover in the world, and when someone shares their passion, you get a glimpse beyond "the thing" into what gets them to geek out over it. Often times it may not be the thing itself, but a trait of the thing (ie. process optimization coupled with caffeine addiction for espresso).

Hope that helps!