How do we distinguish what we love in life as a passion or an obsession? I mean why is running commonly referred to as a passion, while video game playing is an obsession? Both are just different means of making people happy. Why do we have different words for them with completely different connotations? The difference is who is describing the act. In the presence of his peers, the professional video gamer is a passionate, successful individual. However, in the eyes of his old college professors and high school teachers he is obsessed with video games and that is why he was never attentive in class. Should we praise this person for following his passion and chasing his dreams, or look down upon him for dedicating far too much of his time to childhood irrelevant games? Contrary to popular belief, I think this individual is extremely passionate and we should praise his efforts in following his dreams and even go as far as idolizing this person. How many people do you know who actually do the job that they said they wanted to do when they were ten? Well this person reached their childhood goals and that is something that should be praised by society.

So what is so revolutionary about this thought? How does this change anything? I think we need to embrace everyone’s loves as passions, no matter how obscure they may be. The change takes affect when the kid who loves to color outside the lines is told he should change his ways. I am arguing to let him do something different. Let him follow his passion for video games if that is what he loves and spend less time doing homework if that is what he hates. What you do when you are little defines what skills you develope and what you will continue to do for the rest of your life. Think about it, if you do homework as a child it only leads to more homework when you get older. However, take a kid who hates the classroom and tell him he should only do what he feels comfortable doing and I am sure he can use that extra time to find something else productive that he loves. I am calling for a societal change where we eliminate the word obsession and replace it with passion. Obsession is just an unrecognized synonym for passion, but with an extremely negative connotation. Next time you see a person doing what they love encourage them to continue no matter what it is. The only catch is to encourage them to continue it in a way that helps society and does not impede the ability of others to follow their own passions. It is hard enough to find out what you love in life, but if others shoot down your dreams once you finally realize what you love, then true success becomes impossible. So keep dreaming and keep doing what you love because happiness derives from succeeding at what you love.