Lessons on Passion and Fanaticism from Travel and Oprah
Last Thursday morning, the upcoming week was looking very ordinary. Our big goal was to bust out a lot of work in order to have things in tip-top condition before taking off for over a month of awesome travel. Easy.
That quickly changed when – on that Thursday afternoon – we got an irresistible offer and decided to bolt down to Los Angeles for a long weekend. It was time to, once again, put on our last-minute-travel-expert hats.
Travel.
When an opportunity to travel comes up, we can pretty easily kick into high gear. More and more, we know what we want out of life. We have a decent handle on what we want to make happen and what to let go. If something falls in our “pocket” – travel, giving back, tech, music, fitness, food, etc. – we’re all over it. With a passion.
Fueled by a large dose of that passion, the logistics of LA came together pretty quickly. We used some of our Alaska Air miles for the trip down and planned to use a “buddy pass” for the return trip. We jumped on Priceline to secure a hotel and ended up with a 4-star for about $100 – not bad for Oscar weekend. We planned to rely on Metro for transportation (yes, LA has a Metro!) so didn’t need to bother with a car. By Thursday evening, we were ready to take off on Saturday morning.
The next few days were all of the sudden looking a lot different than planned. We could not have been happier.
Oprah.
We love us some Oprah. She gives her voice to the ghosts of society and inspires people to think critically. We won her “ticket lottery” and ended up getting seats to her post-Oscar show at the Kodak Theater. We weren’t about to miss it.
We had to jump through some tedious hoops – such as getting up at 3:30 a.m. – to make it happen, but we had a great time. More than that, though, we learned a lot about ourselves (and others) from the entire whirlwind experience.
What we learned:
Passion.
Because of the kind of work we do (Human Resources) and because we started a virtual business (in order to pursue our dream life), we often get asked about happiness in life and in work. A few weeks back, we wrote about how important it is to get in touch with your strengths and natural talents. If you’re not using ‘em, you’ll probably never feel 100% in sync.
Our LA / Oprah experience reminded us of another key part of the happiness equation. Passion. It’s healthy to know what you stand for / care about and to pursue it boundlessly – despite what others will tell you along the way.
We’re passionate about travel (and Oprah), so we made this short-notice, Los Angeles weekend happen. Strengths based living + passion = a pretty awesome work and personal life. Many people are clear on one or the other but not both. We use our natural strengths to do work we love, which enables us to pursue things that we are passionate about.
Fanaticism.
Down in Los Angeles for Oscar weekend, we spent a lot of time roaming around Hollywood checking things out. We met a lot of movie fanatics. For example, film buffs who could recite every nominee and people who went through the near pornographic LAPD pat-downs in order to get close to the celebrity action.
At Oprah’s show, we were surrounded by people with unrestrained enthusiasm. Before the show started, the audience coordinator led us in jumping up and down, rocking back and forth and fist pumping like it was nobody’s business. We thought the theater might crumble to the ground from all of the commotion.
It’s cool and inspiring to be around people who care about something – and who might even be a bit crazy about it. People who know who they are and what they like are interesting. We met a woman from Tennessee who had to drive an hour to find Internet access in order to finalize the details of her trip to LA. She wasn’t going to miss going. We gave her a big “HOW COOL!”
We bump into a lot of people of say “Why would you do that?” when we describe any number of aspects of our life. We ignore them and head for the people that say “How cool!”
Our last minute travel adventure and trip to Oprah’s show reminded us of the importance of passion and, yes, even a bit of fanaticism. We own it.
What has passion and fanaticism taught you?
Wow! It sounds like you had an amazing time…. I’d love to see Oprah too
And I’m happy to hear that you guys used our Metro. We’re in the process of building several new lines, so hopefully soon people will really be able to travel without their cars.
That is awesome news about the Metro. Ia m going to check out the expansion right now. I does seem slightly limited as of now, but SO much better than driving. We were thrilled to not have to rent a car.
Cool guys! Was Oprah as cool in person as she is on her show? Sounds like so much fun!
Excellent. How well h as she done? Seeing her in Australia recently was incredible – just watching her power and passion amazed me. Did you get the clapping practices beforehand!!??
Clapping, fist pumping, jumping – we were schooled in all of it. The pre-show “pump-up” was like a Black Eyed Peas concert. I’m sure most of the audience hadn’t moved that much in years!
So cool. I love Oprah!!
I think passion is the ultimate key to success and fulfillment. You gotta love what you do otherwise you will quit to easy when the going gets tough. Passion and meaning go hand in hand.
You guys rock!
Good point. Without passion, the roadblocks and setbacks seem unbearable (and so prevalent.) Aligning yourself with your passions is like jumping into a swift river – the current just carries you forward with what feels like very little effort on your part.
Great post! Glad you guys had a great weekend. What a fabulous opportunity you had in LA. And I’ll just throw my two cents in about this post – I admire the way you wrote it. You could have talked about who you saw and met and some Hollywood gossip but you shared about the lessons you got from the experience. The is featured speaker type stuff here!
As for me, passion and perseverance go hand in hand. Passion has to be able to carry you when it’s hard to persevere. Perseverance has to carry you when the passion fades. We’re not always on a high about what we do – life isn’t like that. But loving what you do will create a snowball effect for your passion.
Have fun on your big trip!
Thanks Jeremy. We really appreciate that you picked up on that. While we like to do lots of silly stuff (we can be downright goofy at times), we try to always find the larger meaning in things.
BTW – your new website looks great. I appears that all of those sleepless nights have not been in vain!
It’s so cool that you got to see Oprah! I’m a little sad that I didn’t know you guys were in my city because I would have loved to get together! Next time for sure!
I had the same thought when I just stumbled on your “vacation in your own city” series and saw you up in the Hollywood Hills (wearing some adorable boots, I might add). We tend to be in LA more than we ever plan to be, so we will have another chance to meet up.
Your passion comes through in the writing of this blog.People like you have such positive energy that it’s contagious.
Thanks Leigh. If we are going to be contagious, we are glad it is with positivity!
love that you just go on a whim. that is what life is all about. as of late, (after turning 50), i have allowed myself the freedom to be who and what i want, and my newest passion is to reconnect with those who made a difference in my life, and let them know i appreciate them. i wrote abut it at http://thejourneymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Issue-PDF1.pdf (scroll to page 28).
i soooo admire you for following your dreams!!
Great article Jules! I think it is awesome that you are using social media to ACTUALLY connect with people. As for being who we want, I hope that we are all setting the groundwork for more and more people to be who they are. I think we are.
How cool!! I also give that Tennessee woman a big HC, too! I’m really good at kicking into high gear on short notice if a trip is involved. I can’t always get something to work out, but I give it all I can.
Wish I could have seen you guys on TV – do you know if you got on camera during the Oprah show?
It is inspiring to be around people who are passionate about something. Passion and fanaticism = makes you feel very good!
We did make it on camera, but that theater looks MUCH bigger on TV than it does in person. We are the two slightly calmer guys in the second balcony, among a sea of brightly dressed, crazy-ass Oprah fans.
There is something very satisfying about kicking into high gear. Even if you can’t get things to work out, you still get the satisfaction that _ if needed – you can get your s**t together in a hurry!
I’ve been an Oprah fan since the beginning of her career. She is an inspiration for so many. Congrats on seeing her!
Exciting trip guys! I think that many of us are taught throughout our lives that first and foremost we need to seek security, usually in the form of a home (the bigger the better), a car (upgraded every few years), a designer wardrobe, etc. There’s nothing wrong with wanting things, but in my experience things will never be a replacement for living a passion-fueled existence where you are doing what you love and hopefully making the world a better place in the process.
It’s not always easy to be true to yourself, but my goodness, is it ever worth it!
last minute adventure?! oprah?! oscar weekend?! who ARE you?! HOW COOL!!!
sounds like so much fun and i can’t wait to hear about the month-long adventure. i think passion and fanaticism have the power to part seas. and i love how you say “pursue it boundlessly – despite what others will tell you along the way.” this is exactly where i am right now, and i’m doing just as you say- keeping it all out of reach from the naysayers and seeking out the cheerleaders. you, my friends, are great cheerleaders 
Completely agree with Jeremy, loved how you talked about the experience and not about who you met etc. I think some of my best adventures have happend spontaneously, you just have to be able to say “Why not?” and go for it as you guys did.
The spontaneous things have always been the best for me and during this trip I learned to let go of trying to make plans and just let things happen.
So weird but I was thinking about Oprah this morning before I read this post. I haven´t watched her show in years but kinda sad she´s leaving.
I’d like an experience like that – I was in a TV studio only once for a talk show on the BBC called Wogan – this is going back at least twenty years. From your account I can be pretty sure there was more energy at the Oprah show!
For some reason I thought you’d already embarked on the big trip and then I read about how you manage to squeeze in an Oscar weekend trip to LA.
How cool!
Ah, well now I see why you were so upset when I said I hated Oprah in my interview on GoSeeWrite.com…
Glad you had a fantastic time!
I wish I could get into Oprah, but every time I watch the show my attention span goes out the window. I just can’t manage to watch it for more than 5 minutes.
Oh I love this!! I would jump through major hoops to see Oprah too.