Passion and Desire

What do you really want?

Right now. Take a second and think about what your biggest desire is. Not need, desire, There's a difference.

So, what is it? A snack? Your best friend? Sleep? To go play? To stay home? To read a book? To see what Lady Gaga is doing on Twitter? To go shopping? To sit around and watch March Madness for the next two weeks? To go get a pet? To go for a walk? To be with the person you care most about? To go back to work? To do anything besides going back to work? To laugh? To cry? To love? To leave?

The options are endless, and only you can decide what it is that you want most.

If you're not sure, think about this: what activity makes you the happiest? Or what makes you smile the most or the easiest? What gets your blood pumping? What leaves you better than when you started?

Passion and desire do not come to me naturally. Especially as a kid. I was the queen of getting involved in a bunch of stuff and just coasting along for the ride. I played the saxophone in the jazz band, and liked it. I was on the swim team, and had a great time. I used to tap dance, and thought that was pretty fun. I was on a Brain Bowl (don't make fun) team and kind of felt like I fit in.

At one point I was a pretty good musician. But I didn't continue after High School, because I had no passion for the subject. Enjoyment? Yes. Passion? No. Did I go home and pull out my saxophone to get in that thirty extra minutes of practice? Uh, no.

It took me years to figure out that the reason I liked to do so many things is because of the people I met while doing them. The band crowd was much different than the swimming crowd who were way different than the tap dancers who may or may not even acknowledge the Brain Bowl team. But I liked everyone, and while I'm not always social, I like to be amongst good people and watch them be them.

And my favorite part about that was making people happy. Giving them something to smile about—either a joke or a compliment.

Over the years I've found a few things that I am passionate about. Not many, only one or two. But my main focus is still to make people smile. I think the world houses enough angst, pain and darkness, and I feel like it's my calling in life to push that back a bit for those I get to hang out with.

I have to remind myself that this is why I do so many things, and that it's okay if I'm busy all the time, because it gives me the chance to coax a smile from someone who has had a bad day.

And you know what? People pass this stuff along. It's amazing how much one person in a good mood can change the atmosphere of a meeting or an office or a home.

So that's a little more about me. I know I promised some rules of writing, but these crazy quacks I Tweet with challenged me to write a blog NOT about writing. So here it is. I wanted it to be funny (shocking, I know), but felt like talking about this.

Passion and desire are important. Find yours. Go after it. Sacrifice for it—if you do it right, you'll never regret the choices you make.