How many times have we been told to find our passions? To chase our hearts’ desires? It’s a cornerstone of an American upbringing. Follow your dreams, the kindergarten teacher says. You can be an astronaut. You can be a Hollywood star. You can be the president. You can do whatever you want to do. All you have to do is find what that is.

So, throughout our childhoods, most of us sign up (or are signed up) for school activities, sports, and art lessons because in hopes of finding our callings as soon as possible. The message intensifies in high school. Look, they say, look at all these clubs! Step outside your comfort zone. Go find your passions. So many of us sign up for everything in sight, hoping one of them will turn into one.

But inevitably, time goes on, and everyone gets busier. By high school, we just can’t keep adding new activities to our lists, as well-meaning teachers often remind us. Besides, the arduous process of College Applications is drifting closer and closer. So, we sometimes stick with what we began in freshman year just for the sake of buzzwords like “consistency” and “commitment.” Forget if you truly enjoy it or not; why throw away the time that you’ve already spent?

On the other hand, a fortunate, select group of people do enjoy what they chose (or move on to something better) and find their true passions. They’ll give anything and everything up as long as they can pursue those one or two activities—those activities bring fulfillment. Without a regret, these people aim themselves directly towards their personal nirvana.

But so many more of us are lost. What is passion anyways? How do I find mine? It almost seems like some strange sibling of “true love.”
Leaping into hot pursuit of a passion, some then become over-extenders who tend to ignore increasingly hectic schedules and try to continue doing everything. One instrument, a fall sport and a spring sport, and four clubs? No big deal! I‘ll take a break from homework by playing piano. No big deal. Won’t my long resumé make me look passionate? (Note that sleep has disappeared from the equation.)

Many others do whittle down their list of activities—often, with College Applications in the back (or the front) of their minds—often ignoring joy or passion altogether and rejecting activities that they view as “fluffy” or that they have not mastered as well. I like to paint, but gosh, that’s not going to get me into Harvard or Stanford or Princeton or _______, and I’ll make so much more money as a doctor! Forget art.

But in the back of our minds, a little voice screams and screams because we know something is wrong, and we are unhappy and dissatisfied with life, and when we wake up there’s not much to look forward to when so much of life is consumed by tedium.

Neither of these paths—neither over-extension nor self-denial—is healthy.

We believe a realistic perspective is imperative in our search for the elusive “passion.” Sure, joining fifteen clubs seems like a good idea, but in reality it drowns any real emerging passion under waves of overcommitment and stress.

We are only in high school; entering college is not the be-all, end-all deadline for finding the activity we love. The process of discovering that passion should not be one motivated by the thought of expanding one’s college resumé. It would truly be so great to find something that brings you constant fulfillment, even through its inevitable boring or difficult moments.

It’s quite simple, really: be involved because you truly want to be involved. Everything else is insignificant. Of course, if you’re particularly intrigued by chemistry, spend summer in class doing what it is you love. But if you haven’t found your niche, don’t worry–you’re perfectly normal.
And if you have found your niche, consider yourself one of the lucky ones and don’t waste that. It is intimidating to play by a new set of rules, but necessary to change the game’s outcome.

Some paths maybe more monetarily rewarding or socially “reputable,” but take a moment to weigh the benefits and losses. Would you mind sacrificing burning love and joy for material comfort? To fit the mold you are “supposed to occupy”? If the trade-off isn’t painful, then it’s fine. It’s fine to eventually find a career that you enjoy, while pursuing your passion as a hobby. What’s sad is when you consecrate yourself to a life in which you aren’t happy when you wake up to the light of a new day.

Unfortunately, it’s not hard to find burned-out, tired, stressed students who emerge from the same cave, hunkering down to do their infinite extracurricular activities and too many APs–because they think they’re supposed to. Why walk into that cave if you don’t truly enjoy what you’re doing? Why not stay in the sunlight, focusing on fewer things, things that make you happy, and soaring to another outcome?
As we are reportedly the “it school for Einsteins,” perhaps we should take note of a quote by Einstein himself: “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This applies even when watching other people over-commit and burn out, over and over, and expecting different results for yourself.

You have a busy day today. You may either disagree with or forget our ranting about passion. But if there’s anything we’d like you to consider, it was well-stated by one of our editors: “If you really, really enjoy something, then just go for it and that’s good enough.” Don’t stress. Keep living. You will find what makes you happy.