If you do something, let it be rooted in passion. But understand this: Passion, at its core, stems from a word that means suffering.
So ask yourself—what are you willing to suffer for?
For some, it’s enduring months of grueling training to cross the finish line of a marathon. For others, it’s finding the strength to turn grief into action, advocating for change after a personal loss. Passion isn’t always about joy—it’s about commitment, even when it’s hard.
The Difference Between Passion and Necessity
Too many people find themselves trapped in careers they don’t love. They get to a point where they wake up thinking, I’m one bad day away from quitting.
That isn’t passion. That’s necessity.
If the only reason you’re in your job is money, you don’t belong there. It really is that simple. Success in life isn’t just about earning a paycheck—it’s about aligning your work with something meaningful, something that fuels you even on the hardest days.
What Are You Willing to Endure?
I see passionate people at work every day. They don’t leave when things get tough. Instead, they push forward, knowing their work makes a difference. They endure because their purpose is stronger than their struggles.
For me, I found my passion early. As a teenager, I lost a friend in a car crash. Standing at his funeral, watching his mother break down in grief, I had a realization: This didn’t have to happen.
Traffic crashes aren’t just accidents—they are preventable. Whether it’s drunk driving, distracted driving, reckless behavior, engineering failures, or simply not wearing a seatbelt, these tragedies can be stopped. That moment at 17 shaped my life. It gave me purpose. It gave me passion.
How Do You Find Your Passion?
For some, passion comes from a life-altering event. For others, it’s the slow realization that they feel most alive when helping, building, creating, or leading. It might come from hardship, or it might come from the satisfaction of knowing you made something better.
But one thing is certain—passion is what keeps you going when everything else tells you to quit.
So, ask yourself: What are you willing to endure? What fuels you, even when it’s hard?
Find your passion. And when you do, lean into it—because that’s where you truly belong.