It’s more than enthusiasm or excitement. It’s a form of ambition that is materialized into action while putting as much heart, mind, body and soul into something as humanly possible. It’s a characteristic that distinguishes one person’s life from another’s. It’s something that can’t be taught in the classroom, that is, unless you’re a QUEST student. It’s called passion.

Though it’s pretty hard to summarize everything my cohort has learned from Dr. Suarez in 390H this past semester, here it goes.

There’s no formula for creating passion. That’s the beauty of it. There are no YouTube tutorials or special recipes for creating it. It has to be found from within. It’s an intangible trait that may take years to discover, yet seconds to set you free.

Passion is giving meaning to something. Think of that one belief, approach, or attitude that has set yourself apart from your peers. You may not have realized it, but you gave a special form of meaning to something that no one else saw.

Passion enables you to overcome your obstacles. People with passion don’t see closed doors, they see every hurdle as an opportunity. They take their meaning and apply it to something no one else sees.

Passion shapes your existence. Think of all of the people that have greatly influenced the world. They didn’t focus on what they were doing; they focused on why they were doing it. Think about that for a moment.

You can’t go wrong following your passion. I don’t know about you, but one of my greatest fears is looking back on my life and wishing I had done something differently. Looking back, I’ve found that every tough decision I’ve made where I thought, that was a good decision, had been a time where I followed an unexplainable urge from within.

It’s funny how a 3-credit class with no quizzes, midterms, or final exams is the one class I’ve learned the most from. For the past semester, the class I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of has given me more than just quality tools, presentation skills, and teamwork experiences. While taking the second QUEST course, my fellow classmates and I have been able to find that little word called passion from within.