I am passion, who are you?

Passion is a strong feeling of enthusiasm for or about something, one could say they are passionate about civil rights or they could claim to be passionate about the pets, or cooking. Passion is the emotional fuel we use to create force in the real world, that certain kind of energy that makes us able to take part in acts, hobbies, or life choices that are important to us. To me passion is something that is not necessarily all consuming but a respectful approach to living. Let me explain.

I have been accused on SEVERAL occasions that I am too “intense”, angry, or that my view on life is too “black or white” that somehow because I do not condone pacifism in any sense that means I don’t see the shades of gray in any matter, or scenario. I of course do see and understand the small nuances of an idea or situation but I choose to be a person of strong convictions. I am open minded and willing to change and to accept challenge that I define myself as passionate and not obstinate, which is the key difference to understanding what passion truly is.

When I chose to be apart of something, to take on that role, for example I am interested in Baking and have pursued this skill and knowledge in both my free time in baking for my family and being addicted to cooking shows and restaurant hopping as a beloved hobby, but also professionally as a Baker, cook, bartender, and deli manager since I was fourteen years old and got my first job as a prep cook in a local diner. I also am an artist and am now seeking to get my Visual arts degree as drawing painting, and pottery have been strong passions and skills of mine since birth.

Lastly but always first in my mind and heart I am a passionate and involved family member. I am an active, sister, daughter, granddaughter, cousin and friend. It’s normal to find me running errands for my mother, bringing meals and goodies to my pregnant little sister in the middle of snowstorms, staying night and day by my grandmother's bedside as she died of cancer. Even my cousins know they always have me in their corner, there for them as confidant and mediator, to my best friend whom I moved across country to live with for a time while he went through a crippling divorce and his first years in the military.

My favorite saying is “If you don’t care, I could care less.” because for me life is all or nothing, there are no flickering embers left in the grate, only the fire and the fear. A fear to commit to your interest, your god given talents, or those people and ideas that define you, a fear to claim dominion over yourself. I am passion, who are you?