What does it mean to be passionate? 

What invigorates the feeble human to move the cells of his being? What keeps the intransigent the way they are? Perhaps it is the flame that burns in our hearts powered by the fuel that courses through our veins that enables the desire to know, to know more, to know most. 

Passion is the desire that wills us to do, do more and do the most. It’s the same fire Katniss felt when she shot the arrow into the leader’s heart, the same rush Sherlock feels in a sea of questions. To what extremities can this fire burn? The answer remains beyond my knowledge.  

It’s so often that I wonder—was it the flames of the same passion that drove Romeo and Juliet to the edge or was it the exhilarating feeling of falling love that caused their downfall? Our passions we often see are unconquerable. Perhaps it’s because it has already conquered us and we let it be unhinged. Love is something that strips you off the armor of your pride – passion is a word that keeps it intact. 

Maybe we let ourselves get lost with the idea of doing the most with the smoke of the flame blinding our eyes that we fail to see that loving something is enough. Love doesn’t demand you do the most, only to give what you can at the moment. 

To love something so passionately is to continuously be at war with yourself. It is to break down the same high walls that you’ve built for yourself and to be brave enough to seek beyond what you have considered as “comfortable” and “safe” for far too long. To be passionate equates to stripping down and confronting your vulnerability. View this not as a competition nor the focal point of your existence, but simply something to indulge in that  would bring you genuine happiness. 

Perhaps all this time, we pursue our passions with eyes trained to the horizon of what’s to come without coming to realize that we must also be mindful of each step we take along our path. It is not getting lost in the illusion of attaining the maximum, for the smoke of the fire blinds us from the glow of love in its simplicity. 

Love does not demand us to do the most, but only to give enough of ourselves. It does not ask us to empty the entirety of our being. To passionately love is to find a love that would make you whole.   

Maybe Romeo and Juliet were one of the unlucky few who understood love in the wrong light. Because love? It does not depend; it does not make you weak. 

Passion is not a fire that burns, but rather, a fire that will illuminate one’s soul to unleash the best version of themselves that they could be.