Be Passionate

I may have written about this before, but I'm realizing more and more how important it is to be passionate about every. single. thing. you do. If you are not passionate, you are not going to work as hard or do it as well.

Last night I was dancing with friends and started with the guy I was dancing with and he asked me what I was studying, which is always dangerous because I go into a long rant about nursing and how it's hard but I love it, and then I go into my job and how I love working on my unit at the hospital and how rewarding it is - so when I finished he looked at me and said that just went over my head, but I love that you're so passionate about it. And later I was talking with one of my good friends while we were dancing and I was telling him about this encounter and refrained from going on my rant about how I love what I do because I know he has heard it at least once. And we got on this topic of passion. What is the point of doing something if you're not passionate about it?

I've recently gotten back into running. I decided to sign up for a half marathon training course this semester and it has really helped me find my passion with running again. This past week I ran the most consistently I have so far since I started running again. I ran my furthest distance in 2 years and I ran my fastest mile time in 2 years. I was amazed at the progress I was making and I was amazed at how great I felt getting there.

I've realized that when you're passionate about what you're doing it is much easier to find the joie de vivre (joy in life). I am passionate about Jesus/youth ministry, nursing, and running. The Lord has taught me a lot in the last year of life. A year ago I was just starting to experiencing relief from my headaches, and had a hard time being joyful, now there is rarely a day when I do not smile at one point or another. I constantly am experiencing joy and so often feel I could explode from joy, I am so overwhelmed and overflowed with joy and it is because I love all the things I am doing.

Nursing school is hard, but I have to go through it in order to get where I want, in order to care for people. Following Jesus in such a secular world is challenging, but rewarding. Finding time for running is hard, and it can be stressful getting out there, but once I do my stress melts away, and I feel a change in my demeanor while running.

Find what your passionate about and run after it.