So I rolled into Houston, TX, home of James Harden (Go Sun Devils), with high hopes. This was going to be my last leg in Texas and I was hoping to leave the Lone Star State with a bang.
On my first day I walk into an LA fitness and decide to get a workout in. After I finish benching like a million pounds, squatting an elephant, and cycling on a stationary bike like I was Lance Armstrong, pre-scandal, I see this massive individual training some clients. When he finishes up, I walk up to him and start a conversation that went something like this “Damn – you are big where did you play ball.” He proceeds to tell me about how he played football at a MAC School, NCAA Division 1, (leaving the team name anonymous) and had some workouts in the NFL before he got in a bad car accident on his way home from Spring break his senior year.
Jackpot, I thought. This is my guy, I am going to interview him about his story and see if he can evaluate my superhuman strength.
I ask him if he would work me out tomorrow and I explained more details about my journey and his response “let’s get it in big dog.”
So I stroll in to the gym at 10:05, yes 5 minutes late, and I find my guy. We sit down and we start talking about goals and what I want to achieve and some of the limitations in the past few years that have helped turn me from the Rock into Fat Robbie (I actually thought this movie was funny, but I could be in the minority).
We proceed to workout and that is where I get a reality check – Wow I am weak. I was in the poor in most of the evaluations and my body fat, well lets just say it wasn’t the same as when I was playing ball. After we finish up, we sit down and start chatting. He does his best to get me to sign up for personal training sessions, where I have to let him know that I am on a strict budget, which includes me parking at night and sleeping in my car. He pushes a little harder, but I have been in sales and I just remembered what all of my clients would do to me and I continue to block all of his sly sales attempts.
Once he finishes giving me the sales pitch I start asking him some questions:
What is the one thing you are doing when you are at peace/happy? Answer: Doing this
What is your passion? Answer: Helping people
What do you see yourself doing in the next 5/10 years: Answer: Making Money while I sleep
Ok shit! This guy is counter blocking all my questions – maybe I should have just signed up for the training sessions. Let me give it one more go.
What is your dream job? Answer: CEO of what? Answer: Anything
I decided to cut my losses and chop this one up to a BIG FAIL! I left LA fitness feeling discouraged and a little upset about the experience.
Maybe he just didn’t know what is real passion was?
Maybe he was embarrassed because he wasn’t where he wanted to be and he didn’t want to open all of that up to me?
After thinking about it in this light, I then decided to look at it from a different angle and spin the experience in a way that I believe would be helpful for others.
IT IS OK IF YOU DON”T KNOW WHAT YOUR PASSION IS OR YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE IS!
I think there are a lot of people that have no idea and……that is awesome. I also believe that our passion can change, grow, develop and even transform. What our passion was when we were 12 will most likely be different when we are 25, 45, and shit 75!!! This is ok and this is a part of growth. Yes, there are people that find their passion at an early age and they just roll with it, but I don’t believe this is the majority of us. So don’t force it – allow it to come and you will feel it when you find it. I don’t believe that we can force our passion and our purpose. We can explore and we can experiment with things we enjoy and overtime they can develop into a passion or purpose, but we can just pick something that say “That one! That is what my passion is!” In a world full of social media and people spewing inspirational junk all over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and what ever other outlet people use (my mom still uses AOL news, ha), it can sometimes feel like we have to hurry up and find what our passion is or our life is a failure. I disagree with this 100 percent: Open up and don’t force it.
I also don’t think a persons’ passion needs to be this grand masterpiece that changes the world. Yes, some people have passions of changing lives, playing a sport, of art, music, etc. While these are all amazing, these peoples’ passions are really not relevant to who you are and how you feel. I know people who are passionate about being a mother! They think, well damn I need to find my passion. I call bullshit: that is an amazing passion: your kids, your family, and raising another human being? Are you serious, this is amazing. I also believe that while you do this passion, you will continue to transform and learn new things about yourself that can transform into something new or different as you grow.
So as I was driving away from LA fitness, I decided to change my Lens (Thank you Mike), and look at the experience from a different angle and like Ice Cube said: You Ain’t Gotta Lie (Ta Kick IT). It is ok if you are not sure what your passion or purpose is. This does not make you a failure or less than anyone else. If anything, this should make you excited that there is something out there that you will love so dearly in your heart. You just need to find it, not force it.
So go out, explore, adventure, read, watch, listen, have conversations with new people, try new things, and see what comes into your life.
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