Nothing Is More Important Than Passion
“I’m bored,” I thought, “I want to do more while I’m stuck here.” I was stuck in high school taking many classes I didn’t particularly care for, but I did love math. I loved my math classes because I was good at them, because it made sense, and because it connected me with my dad. You could say I had a passion for math.
I sought out additional math to learn and found a way to continue stimulating my passion, but it was going to require a lot of work. More work than I could have possibly predicted. I had an opportunity to begin taking mathematics classes at the university if I could complete an entire semester of mathematics in two months. I smiled like a kid in a candy store and off I went to start spring break with a trigonometry textbook in hand. I read, I studied, I did problems, I fought with sin(), cos(), and tan() for hours, days, and weeks. The fight made the fire grow even more within me, I felt important, I felt empowered, I felt the full power of passion flowing through me.
I took the final test for the class I was testing out of and I passed. I didn’t pass with flying colors, but I passed and that was good enough to take one of the most intimidating and exciting tests in my life. This test would determine my mathematical progression for the rest of my high school and undergraduate career. The time ticked on, my pencil scraped across the paper leaving traces of graphite in the form of mathematical symbols that I hoped made sense. Then it was done. I handed the test in to the intimidating professor up front and waited. And waited. And waited.
I didn’t need to read past ‘Congratulations’ before I knew what I had done. I had taken my passion and lit it on fire to accomplish what I wanted. I burned the candle at both ends to make this happen and even when I wanted to claw my eyes out after looking at math problems for 4–5 hours a day, I knew it would be worth it.
So why do I tell you that story? Because during college I lost that passion. I lost my drive. I managed to finish my degree (in Math and Computer Science), but I wanted nothing to do with the subjects for months after I graduated. I was burnt out.
For the next three years I would struggle to rekindle my passion for either math or computer science. My job was stimulating until it wasn’t. It lasted about 2 months until the project went from ‘exciting and interesting’ to ‘I really do not even care about this one bit’. This went on and on. So what changed?
I made the conscious decision to look for my passion again. I had assumed that my passion was math, is math, and will forever be math. As it turns out, you can grow out of your old passions and find new ones that burn just as bright. Like when you light your grill, but it takes a little while and the gas leaks out, so when it lights you see the burst of powerful flame and a rush of heat. After checking that you have your eyebrows, you smile and let the meat sizzle on the scalding metal bars enjoying the summer wind, smell of bbq, and the buzz of entertainment on the other side of the glass door as people laugh, drink, and reconnect. That feeling of comfort, enjoyment, and belonging is what it felt like to find my passion again. So what is it now? Learning. Learning about anything.
I have been reading books on business, on personal development, on social media marketing, on sales, on psychology, on cooking, on everything I can get my hands on. I am addicted to learning right now and I know that I have rekindled my passion.
Nothing is more important than passion. It will push you to do great things. It will carry you from average to exceptional. It will push you through heat and pressure to create your diamond. Find your passion and don’t stop until you do. Nothing is more important.
Thumos — The fire in your belly that pushes you to accomplish great things. Ignite your thumos.
