Passion

When I was told I had to give a speech today I immediately started thinking about all the things my speech could be about. The environment, politics, health care.. All very newsworthy topics, but besides the fact I don’t really know a whole lot about these topics, none of them we’re close to my heart. 

And if there’s something I learned in the past 23 years of my life, in order for me to be persuasive, enthusiastic or inspiring it has to be close to my heart, it has to be something I’m passionate about. 

Which brings me to the following.  I was born in a small village in Utrecht named Doorn. My parents were very young when they had me and money was always tight. Doorn was a village in which all the kids played hockey, all the girls wore those heinous Oilily scarf’s and the all the boys wore Ralph Lauren polo’s with their collar up. Needless to say, with money being tight I didn’t quite dress like this. Which I dreaded, because to me it seemed essential to fitting in which I really wanted like all other 13 year old girls. Like I said before money was tight, this was because my father had his own business, at the time he didn’t have any schooling qualifying him for what he wanted to do. So instead of getting a job he didn’t need any specific diploma but didn’t love either for he chose the hard way. 

This meant my mother had to work multiple jobs, we never got to go on holiday and I didn’t get to wear that Oilily scarf I so very much longed to wear. 

And at the time I really didn’t understand. Why didn’t he just get a normal job like those other dads? My mom would have to work less hard, we could go on holiday and I would be more like those girls in my class.

Nowadays movies, MTV, celebrities teach us to dream big. I’m not saying you shouldn’t. But realistically we all know where the odds are when 50 cent tells you to get rich or die trying. We live in a time were money, cars, houses, expensive clothes are portrayed as the highest achievable goal. But what is important to keep in mind is that the road to this so called success is longer than the time you get to spend there. So wouldn’t you rather be doing something you’re actually passionate about in stead of always longing for something you might never have? 

My father still owns his own business which, after more than 20 years, has enabled my mother to stop working multiple jobs. How did he do it, starting out with nothing, no savings, no support system and a baby on the way? Passion. He was passionate about what he does. It might have not always been easy but he loved what he did. 

 It also payed for that scarf I keep going on about. But much to my surprise and disappointment it didn’t magically get me accepted. And as Dolly Parton, who is my moms favourite singer, sings in one of her best songs ‘Coat of many Colors’: ‘I didn’t understand it for I felt I was rich, and I told them all the love my momma sewed in every stitch, and I told them all the stories, she told me while she sewed it and how my coat of many colors was worth more than all their clothes’. They might have never got it, but at least I get it now.

So was this the best speech of today? I sure hope not. But I can live with that as long as there is only a slight chance I inspired one of you. Inspired you to find something you’re passionate about. Passion is the best motivator. It’s what keeps you going when it gets rough and when all odds are against you