Discover your passion
If you don't know what your passion is, take a look around you. Figure out what fills your life with joy and pushes the clouds away. It could be anything: cooking, sports, the environment, dance! You’ll be surprised at just how many passions abound if you just open up to all possibilities in life.
I'm not saying it'll be easy or fast; we're all human beings with different experiences and cultures that can contribute to our passions. But I believe that every person should find their special thing in life. I believe that everyone should discover their true passions. Find what makes you happy and make it happen.
Discovering your passion can be the key to a better life. It brings you clarity, direction and happiness, in addition to being one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.
What would world be like if everyone had their thing? What would our world be like if every person on the planet discovered their true passion? It's a thought that's starting to cross my mind as I find my way through this crazy world.
It's amazing how many passions are still hidden from view. It's as if we don't have room to expand our lives and discover what makes us happy. We’re trying to get out of the last century and into this one, but meanwhile, we're clinging to what's old and tired.
How can anyone know their passion? How can a person tell themselves, "This was meant for me?"
Well, I believe there are three major things that make up your passion that you wouldn't know unless you discovered them: your environment, your family and your friends.
If you don't have the right environment, your passion will be stunted into oblivion. You need to get out of that old box of ideas and into the fresh air where rejuvenation can happen.
Once you've discovered your passion, embrace it! Make it part of your life and then make it what's important to you. Don’t let anything threaten it in any way. With a passion, you're an unstoppable force! Continue reading →
By Hana Ali (originally posted on tumblr ): "A woman has to know her own mind before she can know what's best for her. It's the finest form of freedom - to know what you want. And if you can't know your own mind, you can't have it." V. Woolf, A Room of One's Own
I remember being in first grade and being so excited about our new teacher. I was enamored with her energy and how she brought a lot of enthusiasm to the classroom every day. Teaching was always my dream growing up, but I never knew that it would become reality for me until my very early twenties.
My mother was always a teacher in one way or another. One summer when I was 8 years old, she worked as a counselor at camp for children with developmental disabilities. She had been asked to help out for a few days, so she spent her time at camp helping young children with various disorders. One of them was a child named Tifany who had Down syndrome.
Tifany was sweet and always trying to be nice to everyone. She would walk down the hall and not say a word when she passed by us if we were talking, but if we didn't talk, she would just walk up to whoever she was walking by and start saying hi in her little innocent voice.
When I would pass by her, I would always say hi back and she just looked at me, confused. It was clear that she wasn't used to people being nice to her all of the time. Tifany always got angry when people didn't respond to her attempts at making conversation.
One day, a few camp counselors giggled when they saw me and Tifany walking down the hall, trying to be friendly. For some reason, they thought it was funny that I talked to her when no one else did. They taunted Tifany in front of other children who had been trying their best not to look at us with disdain like everyone else had been doing.
I remember seeing that look in Tifany's eyes. It was a look of hurt and confusion. I felt so bad for her, but I couldn't do anything about it. All I could think of was to hug her and say sorry, but she wouldn't let me touch her. She tried to walk away from me, but we were walking down the hall where there was no possible way to get away without bumping into someone or something else in the process.
This is my first memory of feeling unstoppable: when I realized that it didn't matter what other people thought about me or my actions; all that mattered was how I felt about myself and how important my values were to me.
Letting myself go out of the way for someone, even Tifany, didn't make me feel weak, it made me feel good. It made me feel like I was helping her and the kids that were watching from a distance. I remember thinking that our time together had to mean something; otherwise, why would she need to keep trying? Why would she keep coming to the counselor's office at camp every day?
I realized that if I gave up my own wishes in order to be kind to others and help them gain something important in their lives, then I would actually be living my life with purpose-- with meaning.
It just so happened that my teacher and Tifany became fast friends. A few weeks after summer camp, my teacher was let go. I was devastated at the thought of not being able to continue seeing Tifany every day. I didn't want her to be alone.
Once again, I had to make a decision that would affect me in a big way: would I let my anxiety rule my life and keep myself from doing what would make me happy? Or, would I embrace this new opportunity for growth and development?
I decided that if our time together meant something to my teacher and that she wanted me there along with Tifany every day, then there was no way for me not to be there for her, too. So, I told my teachers that I was going to be at camp even though I didn't want to.
Shortly after, my mother worked out an arrangement with the head counselor to allow me to spend four days a week with Tifany so that she could have her own time to socialize and develop relationships with the rest of the campers. I did this knowing full well what it would mean for me.
I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I knew that there was no way in hell would let anxiety stop me from doing what was right for all of us and also what made me happy. Over the summer, Tifany became my best friend and we grew closer than ever.
Conclusion:
In the end, I grew closer to Tifany than anyone in my life had ever been before. She taught me so much about life and love, even though it was clear that she needed a lot of help from us. I realized that if I could create new and lasting relationships with someone who was different than me (in more ways than one), then I could do anything. Looking back, this was truly a pivotal moment in my life.
Being a teacher has given me an opportunity to learn more about myself and other people from their perspectives. I've learned a lot of things both good and bad which have made me want to try and change things for the better.
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Discover your passion