We should be passionate about anything we desire to accomplish in our lives. If we are not passionate about what we are doing, like a job that we hate, we should give it up and pursue something more worthwhile — something that will ignite our passion. In order to activate this wonderful emotion, we first need to find out exactly what it means.
Passion is defined as “any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling.1” Another definition for the word is “a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything.” A lot of people equate the word “passion” with the word “love,” but I believe they miss the importance of the word when they do that.
A word that is similar to the word passion is the word “spirit.” The Online Cambridge Dictionary defines spirit in this sense as “enthusiasm and energy.2” Notice that the word “enthusiasm” shows up in the second definition of passion and the definition of spirit. You can say that someone that is in “high spirits” is displaying “high passion” or “high enthusiasm.”
However, passion is so much more than just enthusiasm. Passion is something that you have deep within you. There are examples of heroes and role models that have a lot of passion, especially those that are physically active like athletes. Muhammad Ali was an athlete that was deeply passionate inside and outside the boxing ring. The football player Ray Lewis also displayed a lot of passion when he performed on the football field.
We all have displayed some passion in our lifetime, especially when it involved something or someone that we genuinely love. It could be a boyfriend defending his girlfriend from insult and ridicule, a teenage athlete pushing himself in order to please his parents in the crowd, or a protester publicly speaking about an injustice that have been done.
Some people are naturally passionate, and it does not matter what is going on in their lives. I’m not a highly emotional person, however, I tend to be passionate about any type of injustice being done to me or my loved ones. I have a friend that is particularly passionate about the treatment of children, whether it’s children in her neighborhood or halfway across the world.
When we ignite our passion, we indicate to others that we are loving, sincere, and are willing to do what it takes to do good in this world. We shouldn’t be ashamed of showing it. Instead, we should use the passion within us to provide an example for others to follow.
Sources
- Passion. Dictionary.com. 23 Jan. 2018. Copyright 2017 Dictionary.com, LLC. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/passion
- Spirit. Cambridge Dictionary. 23 Jan 2018. Copyright Cambridge University Press 2018. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/spirit
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