“I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”

Roald Dahl, My Uncle Oswald

If you are going to do something, DO IT. And do it like you mean it. The Roald Dahl quote is a good reminder. Mindlessly going through the days, doing tasks, making conversation – we do these so often, sometimes we forget to embrace the moment and fucking own it.. 

If you have an interest in your life, which it’s likely that you do – whether it be a job, a hobby, a relationship – be passionate about it. What else have you got to lose? We only live this life once. Put your all into all that you do, because even if it doesn’t work out how you plan, showing what you’ve got won’t hurt you. Showing your passions just reinforces what it means to be human. All we have is ourselves and the world around us. Embrace all you can.

I find myself asking How can I give my all? I am one person. I can’t give my 100% to everything I do. That is mathematically not even possible. I find myself often sacrificing effort in one area for another. Okay lets give 80% to this, 20% to this. Studying over fun. Sleep over exercise. And then on the flipside – hanging out with friends and pretending my looming to do list for my classes doesn’t exist. I find myself choosing between the things I need to do, oh I’ll go watch 3 hours of How To Get Away with Murder with the roomies, carpe diem, fuck studying! then the next day, oh shit. i should have studied, rushing to do the things I didn’t put the time into the day or week before. Maybe this weird school vs fun is just me not wanting to miss anything, my attempt at seizing the day, and enjoying the little things… because school will be there tomorrow, this opportunity is only tonight.. right? I feel like I am always finding myself playing catch up. You can’t go all in for one thing and forget the other, because odds are it will come back and bite you in the ass. Lame example, I was getting A’s in bio but not so hot in chem… oh well obviously I need to give more of myself to chem! Doing that I lost focus on bio. I ended up getting A’s in chem and slacking in bio. I ended the semester with B’s in both. It all averages out, I guess.  But that’s not my point. The point of this is something bigger. I realized that giving your all to one area, and only giving a small part of yourself to something else isn’t how life should run. Although you may feel great about the thing you give more to, the struggling through the lower priorities isn’t worth it. This doesn’t only apply to school. This applies to friends, family, boyfriend. And so, I came to a conclusion: It’s about the mindset. Make it the first thing on your mind to be balanced and put forth all you’ve got, and most importantly: do it with enthusiasm. Don’t make your life a choosing game. Don’t get me wrong, I know as well as anyone how necessary it is to have priorities. Look to see what is important and what needs to be done, and do it. This is normal – making sacrifices and choosing one thing over another is inevitable. You can’t do everything…..but just about. Remember not to let yourself confuse prioritizing your life with dividing what you’ve got to give into little individualized pieces. You aren’t some pie graph, divided evenly among the different aspects of your life. You are more complex than that.

Giving your 100% doesn’t have to mean throwing all of yourself away, 100% there and 0% left for anything else. 

Give 100% of all you can, of all you have. Give yourself fully to all that you do. 100% heart. 100% dedication. 100% effort. 100% passion. 100% fire.

Don’t be lukewarm. Be hot as hell, and own that shit.

October 19, 2015 @thatwalkingcarpet-blog Tumblr; Re-published February 27, 2024