Passion and Obsession

By definition Passion can be defined in many different ways. For the sake of listing them all, we will focus on just one.

Passion: A strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept.

When I first started skating I liked it. Then the more I did it I started to love everything about it. Now a days, I am devoted to skating. Skating defines me as a person. When I was in High School there would be times, mostly due to extreme procrastination, that I would end up needing to finish a project at the last minute, the only problem is I often had practice on those nights. Practice won every single time. I would worry about the project when I got done practice, usually not getting to bed until the wee hours of the morning. I always believed missing one practice would be more detrimental to me in the long run then getting a B instead of an A on a project. In school, I always thought I had a semester to define my grade. In skating, I had 'now' to define my ability.. over and over again.

I'm passionate about skating. I love everything about skating. I love watching young children skate, mostly because they are in it for the fun and it's so pure. I love everything about the sport, the fact you can do it anywhere, all you need is your skates and a road. There are roads all over the world. One of the big reasons I never take time off, never have an off-season is because I don't want to. Even when I won't be competing for a long time I never lose the desire to lace up my skates and just go. For me, there's nothing more pure then the feeling of your wheels on the pavement, as you just cruise knowing every bit of speed is generated solely from you. I love skating for what it is, before the competition.

Obsession, much like Passion can be defined in numerous ways. But for the same reasons, lets narrow it down to just one:

Obsession: The domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

When I first started to become passionate about skating I started to let it take over my train of thought. I would dream skating. I would wake up, skating on my mind. I'd sit in school writing all of my papers about skating. Or imitating myself on a slide board to the point someone would point out that I am making circles with my feet as I stand. I day dream, no matter what I was doing.. about skating. I would lay in bed, trying to sleep, distracted about skating.

I was passionate about skating, but that's not what I found myself obsessing about. I started obsessing on how I could get better at it. I started to dissect my every move on skates because if I broke everything down, I could find my flaws, and fix them one by one. This, is what has caused people to call me to analytical, that I think about it too much. I let the idea of becoming better at what I was passionate about dominate my every move. I let the concept that I could do it better drive me to obsess over skating.

I have an extreme obsession with skating, I can't stop thinking about how I can be better. I visualize my next practice, my next workout over and over again before it ever happens. When it comes time to race, I've already seen the race play 1,000 times, minimum.

When I was young I found something I was passionate about, I followed and found something I could obsess over that could drive me as a human being. Something that could drive me as a person.