Passion

My wife has always said I am a very passionate person, the most passionate person she has ever known. She isn’t talking about the thing you may be thinking of, but if you’ve ever seen me eat, you can tell I am very passionate about that. I absolutely love food. I don’t have a real wide pallet, but what I like, I like. This can sometimes have a negative impact on my waistline and what have you, but the takeaway here is that when I focus in on something, I hone in with a passion most humans will never know. This is something that some know about me just by having spent a day in the office. I can be laser-focused in the direction of whatever goal I need achieve. I know I mentioned food, but things like fitness, flying, reading, family, and work are all subject to varying degrees of passion. I will set goals and focus on them with a natural determination until I’ve achieved success. However, this passion isn’t always the most beneficial tool. I apply that same level of intensity to how I view and berate myself for my failures and deficiencies. It’s a double-edged sword, good and bad. Being so passionate has coupled with my willingness to be open and connect with people, so I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve. So I can be passionate in a forward direction, or I can be passionate about doing absolutely nothing. I hate being lazy, but I have to remember I’m human, too.

It’s important to have passions, and let those passions be fuel to push you in the right direction. I try to let my passions fuel my giving and my outreach. I love to work; I have every intention of working up until the day I die. They’ll have to carry me out of here; I do not want to retire. When it comes to competition, even outside of business, in golf or any sport I enjoy, I get passionate about winning. It becomes something I fight to no end to achieve, to know when I look back I gave it my all. In the principles of life, I don’t want to have to make excuses or know that I could have done better. More times than not, that passion and drive to survive and thrive go hand-in-hand with being human, in your relationships and your personal endeavors. I would invite you to take a look and see what parts of your life need that extra passion to blossom and thrive. Maybe your relationships or work, your relationships with God aren’t up to par, in your reflections, how would applying passion to those factors change your life?