Jennifer Lee once said, “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul of fire.”

I think it is safe to say that almost all of us have gone through a phase where we have fallen in love with something, we’ve gone crazy over it. Whether it be one thing or many different things, a sport, significant other, a project, hobby, an object … you name it, it can be anything!

Now listening to me today. I hope I can inspire you, ignite the light and help you find what sets your soul on fire. First, let’s take a quick moment. Let’s take a moment to reflect on something you have experienced in your life. What were some things you were or weren’t too fond of? The things we were fond of; did you find yourself craving to do it, craving the attention and its satisfaction?

Well that, my friend, is a little thing called passion. Passion is a hard to control, strong emotion that has turned many underachievers into superacheivers! Like Larry King, Bill Gates, Albert Einstein. I’m sure you have all heard a little bit about them, how they were bums and didn’t know what to do with life, until one day they found their calling and pursued it. Trying to find your passion may be tricky, and it may be hard to figure out what you want to do with your passion when you find it.

Deep down inside, I think we all want to find a passion, or passions, to help us make our life feel complete. I hope the next few things I say inspire you to appreciate your passion or to find your passion.

So, how can we find our passion? Some of us have it easy; we basically just trip and fall right into our calling. There are some of us who we never imagined that we would like it until after we have tried it. Then there are some of us who feel like we are on this endless chase for a passion. I honestly believe that the best way to find our passion and the best way to learn is to just go out there and try.

Robert Munsch is an author for children’s books; he tried a variety of things before he realized what worked for him. Munsch said, “I studied to be a priest and that turned out to be a disaster. I tried working on a farm; they didn’t like me. I worked on a boat. It sank.” Once he found his passion, he became very successful; he ended up selling over 40 million books. Talk about do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life! That quote was said to me multiple times as I grew up by my father, and I believe it because we see it happen in our everyday life.

Growing up, my parents inspired me to try everything at least once. I did everything from playing six different sports by the time I hit sixth grade, I was a part of organized clubs, I learned how to make my own clothes and strut them off on a runway, I acted in local plays, I tried almost everything! My seventh grade year, I tried out for my high school’s high kick dance team. I had no idea why I wanted to do it; I just showed up for try outs and did it, and I am so thankful because I blindly fell into my passion. I immediately made the team. I was shocked. right away I was put on varsity and right away I absolutely fell in love. I became so passionate about my team that I lettered my first year, and for the next three years after that, I received honorable mention and many mini rewards from my coach. I then became captain my 10^th grade year; that year was a big year for us. That year we placed third and brought home our first trophy, and that was one of the proudest moments of my life.

So, now you may be wondering, Torie, where is this bunny trail leading to? And honestly, I hope my experience can inspire you to make this bunny trail lead anywhere, and for all of our cases, I hope it leads to success. Now, I know that being on the dance team was just a high school passion. But being on the team, I gained important life long skills. I learned leadership skills, I learned how to work with a team, I became more confident with myself, and I learned to not be so scared to try new things.

No matter what you do, try your best, but when you find your passion, give it your all. At first I didn’t know I was going to make the team, but I did because I tried, and dance ended up being my passion and I ended up devoting four years of my life to it.

What I want to leave you with today is simple advice: just go out and see what the world has to offer. If you’re like me and you have already achieved your passion, I hope you appreciate what you have learned from it and I hope you spread your knowledge to everyone you meet.

There is a passion out there for all of us, waiting to be chased, so what are you waiting for? Go chase it down.