Passion

I was at work today and doing a really long run on the lathe. I enjoy long runs because it gives me a chance to take a little brain vacation and drift off into my thoughts. Today I found myself thinking about the part in "Atlas Shrugged" when Dagney is remembering her coming out party and how terrible it felt. How all the people seemed fake, they were all smiling and going through the motions, but they were not celebrating out of joy, but rather because that's what they were taught to do. The book goes on to explain that most of the formal gatherings and balls held to celebrate accomplishments felt the same way to her. What all these people were missing from their lives was passion.

Passion can take on many different forms, but the biggest thing it does is gives your life value, without it we are just left to aimlessly wander trying to figure out what we are here for. Passion gives us a reason to act, it gives us a reason to feel, it gives us a reason for all the things we do and the best part is we aren't limited to just one singular passion in life. Think about yourself, what is it that you take pride in above all else? What is your passion? For me personally it would be my cars, they are something I can get completely lost in, they can turn a bad day into a good day for me. An hour playing in my garage with the music on is enough to melt all my stress away and make me feel like my life has purpose again. Recently I've found myself getting very passionate over the economy and politics, which has been the reason for me to start this blog in the first place.

So lets get back to my example of Dagney, she was the vice president of the largest railroad company in the U.S. and the person in charge of "getting shit done". She was a person of action that found her passion in her work. Unfortunately she was surrounded by people that got to where they were in life without working for it, these people didn't know passion because they have never had to actually do anything. They all came from money so they never had to find their passion in life. That is why they seemed robotic and fake when they should have been celebrating. Its hard to celebrate accomplishment when you have no idea what it feels like to accomplish something.

So my challenge to anyone reading this, get out there and find your passion, and nurture it into something great!