The Favorite Things of My Life Don’t Cost any Money

A story about passion, mission, vocation, and profession.

It was a pleasure to burn, but just like a phoenix arises, I became a different version of myself, from my own ashes.

I had a choice to make, Jim Carrey made it easier for me

“You can fail at what you don’t love so you might as well take a chance on doing what you do love.” – Jim Carrey

But let me rewind

Born in 1992 in a very small city, my parents raised me with lots of care, love and education. Their monthly income was very low at the time. I remember they were both working 2 bad-paid jobs each, but it wasn’t uncommon at those times after the 1989 Romanian Communist Revolution.

Remember when you could enjoy a meal without posting it on the internet? Remember when conversations were a thing? My first phone was in high school and it was a dumbphone. Smartphones are definitely a big step in technology and they have their own advantages, but do you remember when we enjoyed the moment? I don’t want to sound like my grandparents, but each generation feels like they lived a better childhood.

My parents were working a lot, but I never felt they didn’t have time for me. They gave me all the freedom I could want, so I received no restrictions on going outside or coming back at precise hours. Being free felt great back then I spent my childhood outdoors when I could. Thank god I didn’t have a tablet!

When I was young, my mother made herself clear that our relationship is going to be perfect as long as I am going to be a good student. Growing like that, in my first 8 years of school, I became the best in my class.

I cured depression with work

Spending a lot of time learning and studying made my parents and my teachers happy with my performance but I wasn’t happy with my body, physically. Bad eating habits were probably the main issue, but something felt off in my mind too. As Zig Ziglar said — a “healthy mind breeds a healthy body and vice versa”.

If there was a time that I was close to the depression, this was it, and everything was coming from my physical condition so I decided that I should swap my frustrations with some work, so later in high school, I started doing sports like running and going to the gym.

You cannot love what you do if you don't see signs of improvement or excellent results. It took me four years to burn fat and become a good athlete that was looking somehow different from the average gym rat. My body was not a problem anymore, so I was doing it because I loved it. Work became a hobby for me.

Anyone else has a degree that he doesn't use?

Self-confidence received a massive boost, but somehow only on the physical side. My university choice was the biggest one in Bucharest, Politehnica an engineering one, because I was very good at math and physics.

Four more years later, I get an engineering degree. My tank was exhausted. The university was very hard, and I didn’t like it! I almost hated it at some point and wanted to quit it, but the only reason I didn’t do it was that I didn’t want to disappoint my family.

Death of the geek

This is the part where pieces of me died. I had to go on a different road, a 360 turn. I couldn’t move forward. I was thinking: “How to make money through something you don’t enjoy doing? That must be painful!”

Somehow, because I hated being sedentary, the nature of humanity itself awakened in me and it was screaming – “Get out, be active, follow your dreams!”

I wanted to be happy with my work choice. There is so much in Jim Carrey's quote from the start of the story that convinced me I should pick my decision with my heart this time.

Steve Jobs displayed it beautifully in his own words:

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”-Steve Jobs

The choice was made. I would rather pick something to work that I enjoy for a smaller salary than chase something I don’t like for a bigger one. But this is not suitable for everyone. Some people swear that money buys happiness and others strongly disagree with that.

“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” — Steve Jobs

My logic says that you can’t be happy and hungry at the same time, so it has to be a balance.

Do you have time?

Have you ever thought about what happiness is? I think it’s time. Happiness is time. It’s time because if you hate your job the time will slow down and it will make your life miserable, but if you love it will be so much easier for you!

Curious about physics, when I was little I asked my father what relativity was — he told me about this quote so I can understand it.

“Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That’s relativity.” — Albert Einstein

A hobby turned into a passion

In the next years, I started to work day and night into taking fitness to a higher level. Dieting, running 2 hours a day, and lifting weights 2 hours a day made me a National Champion at my first bodybuilding contest in 2015.

Finding my passion was easy for me. The second step was to find a way to make it productive, so I decided to work a full-time job as a personal trainer and later I got my nutritionist degree.

I was lucky. At 23 I found what I love, what I was good at, and what I can get paid for, but that doesn't mean it’s late for you now. It’s never too late to find your passion!

You need to find Ikigai

There is no direct English translation, but it’s a term that embodies the idea of happiness in living.

Essentially, ikigai is the reason you get up in the morning is the union of four fundamental components of life: passion, vocation, profession, and mission.

How does writing complete my Ikigai?

“If you give a good thing to the world, then over time your karma will be good, and you’ll receive good.” — Russell Simmons

I am a very spiritual person, and a big believer in karma, the law of attraction, the universe, or however you want to call it, and I know that what goes around comes around. Writing can help me with my mission by delivering my knowledge and stories to a broader audience. Now I am complete, and you can be too!

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it."-Steve Jobs