Regis Cebu Leadership – Leader Oliver Solijon – Reflection Paper 3 – What is your passion?

Regis Cebu Leadership – Leader Oliver Solijon – Reflection Paper 3 – What is your passion?

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what motivates me and what gets me going in life but more often than not, the one thing that always seems to come to my mind is what I'm passionate about. Well, it's not that there has been a major shift in the "What am I passionate about?" department; it's just me thinking along a different route for once. It's when you've known your whole life what you wanna spend the rest of your life doing and then there comes a moment where you think "What if I could be passionate about something else?".  I don't know if many of you guys have experienced this, but for me, it's something that has (kinda) caught me off-guard. It's not something I view negatively but it definitely is something to think about.

What is my passion? What is it that I love doing?

Honestly I don't know. This reflection paper is giving quite a worry as there are no particular activities that I really love to do. But there are quite a few things I like to do and I want to do before I die.

During my dull time in office, I like to read in the internet about inspiring people who have carved their way out from poverty. My journey in life since childhood is quite hard as I have to endure some financial difficulties as my parents are have just meager income. The inspiration article that I read over the internet is providing a sense of relief that boost my confidence in times of trouble. One of my greatest fears in my life's journey is to experience the same situation that I was into when I was still young. I am trying to engage myself to be an entrepreneur as I want to make sure that I am financially stable to support my family.

After work or during weekends and holidays, I love to play around with my son just like any other loving father. Spending time with him are moments that can't turn back time and only happen once. My son is a very smart and adorable kid and I make sure that I am always there every step of the way in his journey too.

Engaging in outdoor activities like basketball, badminton, volleyball, jogging or even marathon are something that I like to do in my spare time to keep me fit. I believe that I have an innate skill to do all this. Keeping myself fit is already a way of living with thoughts in mind that both my parents currently have cardiovascular disease.

What I want to do before I die? Skydiving, bungee jumping, car racing and drifting, buy a Ducati 750cc superbike and travel to great cities and places!

I consider Skydiving and bungee jumping extreme outdoor activities. Although I am really an enthusiast of extreme activities but the way I see people experiencing the ultimate adrenalin rush brought by these outdoor activities gives me somehow an excitement like a kid. I have been convincing my wife that we try the ultimate experience of the lifetime but it's still under consideration. I have been dreaming of this activity and before I die, this two will be on my bucket list.

I love cars and there is no question about that. But what I love most is to try racing and drifting. I always find it fascinating that there are people who find these sports a good one considering the danger that lies ahead. Racing and drifting a car with a V8 or V12 engine couple with turbocharger that can zoom out to 80kph – 100kph in 3 seconds is really something fun and a must to try with.

I love big bikes but big bikes don't love me and so my father. When I was in secondary studies, all my friends have their own Yamaha DT's while I am bringing my father's customized stainless jeep. I could remember even crying begging my father to buy me one but his hardened heart deprived me of such gift. Instead he just let me used his stainless jeep. The only positive about is that girls prefer to ride with me rather than with the bikes. Why Ducati 750cc superbike? Well it has a full feature of a superbike that doesn't cost much. Until now I'm saving for it since my wife too doesn't like motorcycles.

Lastly I love to travel to great cities and places. There is a quote saying "We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us". Life is a continuous journey of travels. There is no amount of money to buy the moments we experience in great cities and places. After all we only live once.

How it is reflected in your work, daily life and life journey?

Since there is no specific passion that I love to do, this only goes that in my work, life and journey I am open for possibilities and chances. I am hopeful that I like/want to do things beyond my imagination and that sky is the limit.  

In my work, my openness to my colleagues and staff help me understand the person inside them. It helps me reached things in them that they themselves don't want to divulge. It helps me create a working environment of trust and honesty.

In my life and my journey, open minded approach help view things in better perspective. I am not confining myself in a box but instead I am opening myself that in my life's journey a lot of things can happen either good or bad. What is important is that I know how handle myself in every situation that I am into.

What is the new learning?

I believe that passion should not only be restricted to only one thing. Passion should be a multiple activity that will describe me/you as a person. Passion should bring out the best in us and by bringing out the best in us it will help us to be mold into a better person or provide influence to other people.

Life is a harsh reality. There are times in our life that we are beaten down but not out. It is human nature that we stand up and try to live another day but the passion for the things we love is still there no matter what. As we continue our journey, let us try to cultivate further those things that might miss out. Who knows it might be another passion that will help us through our journey.

What is the relation to what I already know?

Living our life with less apprehension about the future is a better way to start living life. There are things that we love to do and passionate about but because we think too much about the future, we forget to live life as it is.

Being passionate about something provides us a sense of realization that in this life there are those things that we want to do that will make us a better person. The things that will love to do will somehow provide us a sense of solemnity that we have to stop and try to live the moment.

The problem with most people today is that they are too busy and apprehensive that they worry too much about the future. With this in mind they now forget the real reason why we live and have now fallen out of passion that makes their life worth living.

What have I done, am doing, and will be doing for this topic?

I try to live my life each day together with the people I love and the things that I love to do. I believe that if we stop for a moment and think of the people and things that mean to us, we live our life.

The journey in life is a rocky road and never a smooth sailing but if we have that something inside that were passionate about, the journey might be smooth after all. Let us remember that the real reason why we were able to live for another day is not because that we just want to live for another day. It is because that somewhere deep inside we have the passion to live life.