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Sophomore year in college, I spent a semester living with this girl named Erica who I met in freshman Spanish. We weren’t really friends when we moved in together but I was desperate for a roommate and she had an extra space in her room. We were like night and day. She ran cross country and would willingly stay up all night to study organic chemistry while I would hide out in the theatre instead of doing actual work. And I wouldn’t run even if my life depended on it.
Surprisingly, we got along great. She ended up being one of the best people I have ever lived with and I’m still a little disappointed the opportunity to live together never presented itself again.
One of my favorite things about Erica was the way she started every idea or observation she had with the same opener.
“Dorie. Can I tell you something. Let me tell you something.”
What followed would range from “My mother is crazy” to “I got to the exam and I couldn’t figure out why I studied so much”. Her opener was this staple of her vocabulary just to get the conversation moving. (Side note: This past week she pointed out that her boyfriend starts everything with “Let me ask you a question”. I’m not sure she realizes that she does the exact same thing, just with slightly different language.)
One day, she followed her opener with the statement “If they placed track meets based on cup sizes, I’d be the best D-cup runner in the state.”
And it was probably true. When I’d go to her meets, I’d see this sea of long, lean skinny people. The women were tiny and none of them were all that curvy. And then there was Erica, with her hips and her breasts and looking like a woman. She was/is gorgeous.
She ran because she loved it. D-cups and all. Her body may not have appeared to be built for it but it was passion that pushed her.
It is been almost six years since I lived with Erica. She still runs. Because she still loves it. And she applies that passion to other areas of her life. Her career as a lawyer is a great example. Passion is always something that can benefit us, no matter what field we are in.
Your passion doesn’t have to be your life’s work. If Erica wanted to be a professional athlete, she might not get very far. But since Erica wants to run because she loves it, she can be the “best D-cup runner in the state” and then be okay with being just that.
Because she motivated by the internal reward of her actions, the external rewards are nice but they are not the be all, end all of where she finds her self worth.
I used to define passion as something that I love to do, no matter what. But maybe that isn’t totally true. Maybe I need to start defining passion as something I love to do for only the internal rewards. Maybe a better way to realize passions is to look at the matter in question and be able to say “The external rewards are nice, but that’s not why I’m doing this.”
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Comments
08.21.08
Haha. I loved this. Sometimes I feel like I don't belong in the demanding world of business because I'm a petite blond who looks about 5-7 years younger than I am. But I love it and I love surprising people with my intelligence and savvy. Dumb blond, my ass!
08.21.08
I have a feeling men and women will read this article differently. I have no idea what I just read except that if I need a kickass and passionate lawyer, or just someone to take a job with then I will call you for Erica's number. Thanks Dorie!
08.21.08
@Holly - Good for you! I love it when women look cute and then totally blow everyone out of the water.
@Christien - I'm sure they will but that's okay because any curvy girl would know exactly what I'm talking about and all of the men just heard about a strong, kick ass woman. Its a win either way :)
08.22.08
Hahaha... D-cups and running do NOT go together. I learned that last year when training for the marathon. Well, actually, I knew that already, and then trained anyway.
Great post! Funny.
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