One of the YouTubers I watch, (I think it was Casey Neistat) quoted someone when he was talking about his passions and why he does what he does as a filmmaker. The quote was from famous author Ray Bradbury saying, “Love what you do and do what you love. Don’t listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of your life”. This saying hit me hardcore and made something that has echoed through my whole life tangible.

Ever since I was little I remember my parents telling me, “Brian, you can do whatever you put your mind to and whatever you endeavor to do, we will support you”. This constant reminder of pursuing my passions gave me so much hope and excitement for my future, even though I didn’t know what I wanted to pursue. But now, now I know what I want to do with my life. Now I can take that constant reminder and not only have it push me from behind but also have it carry me onwards, inspiring me to act on my found passion.

Now I don’t want this article to turn into an autobiography about my childhood and what I’m doing now with my life because for goodness sakes, I’m only 19 and a freshman in college. Also, I don’t want this to turn into an article about parenting skills and how it’s important to encourage your kids to pursue their passions. Even though that is VERY important indeed, I would rather this article contain a message to EVERYONE about how important it is to pursue your passions and to Love What You Do and Do What You Love.

As a creator just starting out in the visual media arts, I know first-hand what it’s like being a kid and not knowing what the heck you want to do in your life. It’s hard to settle on a passion, even when you’re already graduating high school. I remember that during the time between 6^th grade and now after graduation, I changed my “passion” six times. Six times! Each during those times, I had the distinct idea, that’s what I want to do when I’m older! The first was a pilot, then a forensic anthropologist, an architectural engineer, an actor, a film scorer, and finally a filmmaker. I ask myself sometimes, how did I go from wanting to be a pilot to being a filmmaker? In reference back to the quote from author Ray Bradbury, I think it has to do with the imagination being the center of your life.

Whenever you’re daydreaming, whether it be about a girl or boy or what you want to be when you grow up, eight out of ten times you will hear someone say, “Get your head out of the clouds and focus on reality,” in some way or another. What they’re really saying is, “Stop using your imagination”. My response to that is, they should really wake up and smell the roses. Imagination is everywhere! Imagination is the creative juice that causes our minds to be geniuses. Why was the Burj Khalifa built? Because someone had the idea, the imagination, to design and construct the tallest building in the world. Why was The Lord of the Rings made into a series? Because Peter Jackson had the idea of taking Tolkien’s writings and putting them to life. What I am trying to convey here, is that the imagination sparks ideas which then sparks passion. If you open your imagination, literally anything is possible but more importantly, it will help you find your passions and fuel them.

All this compresses into one equation which I hope will inspire you to do greatness.

Imagination (ideas + actions) = Passion (Loving What You Do and Doing What You Love)

So, what’s your passion? And I will leave you with that.