Passion

What an amazing time of my life this is, but I'm realizing that I don't have NEAR enough time to engage in enough conversations to talk about the things in life that really move me. So, here's my blog to do just that. Whether or not I'm mostly talking to myself, I guess I don't need to know that... :)

I've been learning so much lately. Learning about myself, about opportunities, about friendships, about loving, and about living with passion.

I really believe that everyone should have a passion. Everyone should have something that drives them, something that makes them tick, something that inspires them to be the best person they can be and to reach a certain kind of fulfillment in their life.

For such a long time, I was stuck in a rut. I had hundreds of passions. Innumerable passions that had nothing to do with each other, yet somehow creating this one, single girl. I feared that if I ever "chose" one passion in life, I'd be letting go of so many others. I wanted to stretch myself invisibly thin in order to embrace all these passions, but wasn't really thinking that these driving forces, the things that make me tick, the things that inspire me can really be put into categories. I'm a categorical person. So thinking like this is actually pretty refreshing to me. Whatever my life choices end up being, I will undoubtedly incorporate all of these into making those decisions.

I'm passionate about helping people.

Luckily I've found a career path where I'll be making a living out of it. When I chose to go into physical therapy, there was no doubt in my mind that I was making the right decision. I want to spend my life helping people on a very personal level, and I want to always be in a position to learn about others and what they're going through. I feel like helping people with their immediate needs builds trust-- and with trust you can really make a change.

I'm passionate about culture.

Somewhere between going on mission trips and studying the Spanish language and culture, I developed this passion. Culture intrigues me; it's pretty incredible how learning about other people opens doors of opportunity. I don't want to live closed-off from other people just because of a language barrier. And although this may seem far, far, oh so far away, one of my future goals is to provide healthcare to Latin American countries with low access to services.

I'm passionate about conversation.

Some of my most rejuvenating times have been while sharing my heart with someone else and listening to them share theirs. Whether sitting on the couch at home, sitting around a small table on vacation, outside on the porch at night, surrounding a bonfire, or while on a walk around campus, I've had a handful of conversations that have seriously moved me. I wouldn't trade these times for anything. Surprisingly, we can learn a lot about ourselves when we dig a little deeper under the surface and make ourselves a tad bit vulnerable. Talking about important, sincere, meaningful things is refreshing beyond words.

I'm passionate about relationships.

It's interesting to see the role you play in other people's lives. Sometimes that role is a leader, a listener, a comedic relief, an advisor, a grounder, a distractor from responsibilities, or anything else. The specific role you play in anyone's life is something you can't take for granted. They NEED you for your role, the specific and extremely unique way you're impacting their life, whether you can define that role or not. It's something that creates connection. Something that draws you to relationship. Something that gives you meaning and strength because of that mutual admiration. Something that, I believe, is necessary for each person to truly live.

Being relationally drawn to certain people is so cool to me.

I had a friend visit me this summer that I hadn't seen since I was a little girl. We were best friends. We were so alike in every way imaginable.

Now, although it might be harder to find ways we're alike, we still had this connection. We had memories. We had stories. We laughed about the same hilarious shenanigans. And we shared our hearts about what we want out of life. It was so incredible seeing how a strong relational foundation can somehow bring people together because of the respect we have for each other no matter how much we change over time. I believe that relationships were originally created to be the strongest element of life, and I hope to never take them for granted.

I'm passionate about music.

Music has always been able to inspire me. It provokes feelings that not many other things can. It has played such an important role in my life. I loved the songs my mom made up about her little baby girls, I thought my dad was so cute and talented when he sang and played guitar, my mom taught me my very first piano chords, I worked SO HARD trying to teach myself harmony in the back seat of our mini-van on family road trips, my grandpa cried every time I sang Amazing Grace to him, I realized I wanted to live for the Lord the rest of my life while singing an old worship song in children's church, and I danced to oldies on top of the picnic table with my sister on Texas nights. These were only the beginnings. Music will always have the ability to make me feel wonderful and alive.

After creating some sort of organization to all of this, I'm feeling pretty confident that if we create a life that takes advantage of our passions, we will be incredibly, wonderfully fulfilled.