I’ve started my passion in coding because of some unlikely reasons. 1.) I’ve been chosen to compete in a programming competition, 2.) because i was seen as someone who’s most likely someone who codes and because 3.) I won a medal in that competition. Weeks before that very day, i went to the library, and looked for books on the language C++. I scanned and learned through all the pages and answered as many problems as i could in a span of 3 weeks because i knew that my competitors would be college students. And i studied the language because i had a competition to win. I never knew i’d choose to never stop learning.
I chose computer science because i knew it’s where i was meant to be. I not only loved to discover the complexity of coding, but to explore every technology and tools that were meant to be uncovered. I’d choose to learn Android overnight rather than to study for my tests. I found no meaning in doing something else. I felt guilty wasting time on unrelated stuffs, when i could have used it on learning. On watching a tutorial. On coding. Ain’t it weird? I was too lost in my passions such that whenever reality boils up, i find it hard too see the things that’s meant to be seen like the load of responsibilities. Anyway, i recently had a discovery, a route back to reality.
How do we stop ourselves from getting lost in our passions?
The truth is that, people tend to forget or trash some habits because they know it’ll lead them nowhere. “Follow your dreams” they say, but the truth is that we can’t really just follow our dreams. Because we need to live. One may be hooked to playing music, but sometimes, this passion just turns to habit, and eventually, we’ll have to set it aside for example, for work or school. This passion, in the end, becomes uncultivated. And slowly dies, i guess.
So how do we really stop ourselves from getting in lost in our passions?
And be able to keep it. To live with it. Without being too exhausted. Without being too burnt up. And not end up eventually hating it.
Worse, curse it.
1.) Take some break. Really.
Like every relationships, we do not want to get too strangled with someone else. I guess that’s what our passions do to us. Sometimes, i’d choose to not fall asleep because i’ve been too interested in a recently launched technology, or in learning some new language. Eventually, i get too tired, and i start to lose the reason to go on. Because i’ve been too exhausted. I found it hard to go on loving it, because i knew that it was killing me. BUT, when i choose to play the piano, or watch a movie, or simply hang out with some of my friends. I find myself missing it. I find myself missing my passions because i’ve been out for so long. And that’s what you should do. Take a break. When you decide to sit down and do what you want to do again, you’ll find yourself refreshed. Right now, after my break, i feel like the first time i discovered the language C++. Geeky, right?
It’s like listening and falling in love to your favorite song all over again after not listening to it for years.
2.) Forget about getting something in return
Exactly. I am guilty of thinking that someday, i’m going to be really rich because of this. Are you, too? But i guess, our passions, like relationships (again), can’t give you everything you want. If you love something, then love it out of pure reasons. When you expect little out of your passions, when you stop thinking that your passions will lead you nowhere, to no money, to no future, that’s when you stop yourself from getting lost.
You see, when we break up from our passions, that’s when we find ourself lost. We sometimes lose the reason to move on, or to live because we lost all the reasons we ever had in this world. What’s worse is that, we do not realize the reason. Our passions light up our interests. Our passions light up our world. That’s how i find it. Do you feel the same?
