Over the past few weeks, the word “passion” has come up on numerous occasions. While watching a YouTube motivational video, that word came up several times to describe how Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant approached the game of basketball during their years in the NBA (Kobe is still active). I attended a webinar for a USA Swimming Foundation event where the speaker defined the word “passion” and asked the audience if their definition of the word matched the true definition. The more and more I think about what it takes to truly feel passion for something, the more I define what this word truly means to me.
When I think of my family (my immediate family is made up of 3 daughters, my wife and a 4th child on the way) I can tell you that my heart burns with passion. It is the reason that I exist. When my wife and I chose to start a family, we did not make the decision to have a child, we chose to spend the rest of our lives putting someone else before us. Having a family was something that I was passionate about and now that our family is almost complete, I can tell you that the passion that I feel for them burns brighter than ever.
I have told the story a couple of times in my blog posts, that I was one with corporate America at one point in my life. When I decided to trade in the “suit & tie” for a “swimsuit and towel” many in the medical profession felt that I was nuts. At the time, owning my own swim school location was a distant dream but I knew that it was feasible if I approached this goal with the same passion that I used to obtain my Olympic dream. I truly feel to this day that those that can outwork me are few and far between because I have successfully carried over the same “nose to the ground” attitude that I did as a swimmer. It may be cliché to say but it is true, what I learned in sports has absolutely carried over into my life (just like my coach said it would). With that said, my passion for my work burns brighter today than ever. I did not choose swimming, swimming chose me and I made the decision to help our little swimmers reach their goal of being safer in and around water. I am a bigger person because of my little swimmers. I have so much to be thankful for.
This post is about passion and how I choose to define it. My family and my work make up most of my day and if you know me well enough, you know how important sleep is to me. It is safe to say that i spend most of my day doing things that I am truly passionate about. I once heard someone say that if you are truly passionate about what you do, you will never work a day in your life. I stopped working in July of 2011.
Have a great spring break.
Felipe Delgado