Fighting for passion

Passion drives us and helps us establish who we are. It pushes us forward and directs us to be eager for our goals.

Often, I question whether or not I still have any passion left in me. 

Back in high school, I used to frequently write in a journal. I wrote songs, poems, and concepts. Being politically active, I wrote down my visions for our nation. Educational reform, public healthcare reform, and economic ideas I aptly named the “Villa-Real Plan.” Fueled by passion, ideas flowed out naturally, creativity flourished, and I had hand-crafted my little world in that journal in the hopes of one day sharing and executing them. 

Adjusting to the college lifestyle has resulted in the aforementioned vigorous passion receding, with a focus on survival. The drive, the energy, and the ideas all decreased significantly. The journals I write in are empty; ripped pages and uninspired works fill the binder. It reflects the author’s tiredness and unfulfillment. The adversary of all, Reality, had finally come face-to-face to a duel, and my good friend Passion had to be sacrificed. 

It is a never-ending struggle to pursue our dreams. Fulfilling childhood dreams and the visions of an adolescent is far more difficult when juggling the complexities of life. Yet we persist, we push, and we never falter. That relentlessness, that drive, and that energy is an evolved passion to never surrender to reality. 

Although my original passion, the one that I had cultivated in my youth, has been cast out into the void, a new and adjusted one was born out of it. The passion to graduate, to sustain myself, and to create a better future for me and my loved ones. 

Remnants of my previous passion still creep out from time to time. It is nostalgic and creeps out with the hope of one day being fulfilled. 

Right now, I cannot say for certain if I will be able to rekindle the idealistic visions I had when I was a child. The visions of a brighter future, not only for me but for the people. A vision of a poet with a thousand works to his name. A vision fueled by passion, uncontested, and inspired.

PHOTO SOURCE(S): Joaquin Villareal

LAYOUT ARTIST(S): CHRISTIAN AVIV CRUZ