.021 - when passions become tiring

Work hard. The key to life success. We all know this right? But what if it leads to the draining of your own life. The reason I'm writing this is because of my own experiences last quarter. I was taking a class that I'd been looking forward to for a long time, screenwriting. The first half of the quarter was fine and dandy. I wrote the first 2 assignments, spending loads of time on both. No problem. The problems came later in the quarter when the other classes started knocking at my door. All of a sudden I had to work on papers, memorize Japanese, and read over 150 pgs a week. While screenwriting was fun, it suddenly started to become draining to the point where I started to see it as a chore. This very same "loss of passion" prompted me to leave CS last year which is kind of scary. Screenwriting started to become "2 hours in my day", stories became assignments, and revisions became dreadful.

But where does this leave me other than a rant? How can it help you as a reader?

I feel like if you have a passion, you've got to realize that that very idea in your head is gonna be the cleanest version of its realization. Because ultimately, you'll have a life to balance. Whether it's social goals, academic goals, or even personal dilemnas. In order for your passion to be developed, you're gonna have to find time for it and/or prioritize your life around it. For me, taking 20 units the quarter I took screenwriting was dumb in itself, but worse was the fact that I treated it like the other classes.

I've got to learn to realize that not everything will be done perfectly. I'm ultimately gonna have to disappoint some people and even myself. But thats cool, because more important than my own everchanging desires is that one thing that keeps me excited to wake up every morning. When people, events, or classes are gone, the only thing left will be you and whether or not you're any closer to realizing what you've always wanted.