Passion. When I used to teach a first-year seminar class at Sonoma State I would always ask the students to share with me "what they were passionate about." I was amazed how they often times struggled and said "what do you mean?" I rephrased for them, "what gets you out of the bed in the morning?" I continued, "what is it that you lose time doing, that makes you feel on top of the world, that you just get up ready to go and do as quickly as you can." Often times, I was met with only a handful out of 30 that could answer the question. So...our challenge became over the 18 week semester to help them find at least one of those things.
You see, I'm big on passion--going all in. There are four thing for me: Family (Sarah, Myles and our family), Running, Residence Life at IUPUI, and Indiana Basketball. If you had to sum me up you could say, "oh, Josh...that's that crazy runner who loves IU basketball, seems married to his job, and he cannot stop talking about his wife and dog, Myles. For me, passion and being passionate about those things just makes life so enjoyable. I really never struggle to wake up and get going because I truly look forward to those four things. Of course, there are other things as well, such as my friends, the Colts, etc., but passion is being so excited about something that you feel GREAT when it's going well and you feel TERRIBLE when it's going bad. I think it's the feeling TERRIBLE part that people are afraid of and that sometimes prevents them from being passionate about things in life. When things to go wrong, then it can feel just awful. Most of us don't ever want to feel that way. Yet, if you don't allow yourself on some level to feel bad or sad because of something, then you truly will never feel that GREAT feeling when things go so well.
Anyway, I was thinking about passion on my run today. The first thing I did this morning was take out Myles to the bathroom. The second thing I did was drive Sarah to work at 6a. The third thing I did was go for a run and I actually sang the IU fight song down White River PKWY because we play tonight, and now I'm about to head to work. I've already hit all four and it's 7:15a. Well...I am off to get ready for work. Yes, I really did sing the IU fight song down White River PKWY across from the VA Hospital, and no I'm not crazy. Just passionate. Have a great day. Happy running to you. GO HOOSIERS BEAT the illini. And...if you've not found what you just have to get out of bed for very single day, then my hope is you find it...
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