On Being Passionate

Have you ever been obsessed with something? I have. Always.

People call me a control freak. I get tagged as a planner. They tell me I am selfish. Then there are those who love these attributes in a positive light. They say I give it my all. They say I have determination and courage and optimism to move ahead even if it is not working out. I just say that I am passionate about things.

I go crazy about simple things like diet and exercise. So much so that I plan my daily activities around this. There are days I don’t want to meet my friends because that will come between my ‘schedule’. I refuse to meander away from important things. Trust me when I say that no amount of exercise and diet has helped me so far. But in 32 years, I have not given up. I believe that it does help me in some way even if it is not visible right now. And I believe that one day it will bring about a change. Where do I get that positivity from? - from my passion of never giving up.

When we go for a vacation, I plan everything to the T. People say that I am missing out on spontaneity. Now you tell me one thing – do things always happen as we plan? So when things don’t work out at times, spontaneity comes naturally. I leave margin for error in my plans!!

I make excel sheets, I write down notes and I’m always calculating in my head. Yes, this does have a downside. It leads to stress when things deviate from their normal course of action. But I have learnt to deal with stress and not let it get into my head.

I was in 12^th standard when this class-mate, from a family of astrologers, came to me. She looked at my hand and said I had no Luck line. She said that I will have total control over my life and things will happen like the way I want them to. I did not know what it meant then. I know now.

And frankly, I am very happy that God has given me the ability to work hard and achieve results without destiny coming in between. When I win something, people call me lucky. But do you know how much I obsess over a topic? When a contest comes around, I think about it for days before writing for it. If there is something related to a ‘Lucky Draw’, I just give my name and forget about it. Sometimes I do win, because no matter what the luck line says, I always take my chances.

I want to tell the world that we are what we are because of the things that drive us. You need to be crazy about what you love. It can be something as mundane as gardening and watching a seed grow into a beautiful plant. But find your passion. Put your mind into positive things and watch your life become better.

Right now, I’m obsessing over a writing project and loving it!! What about you?