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AN AMERICAN ACCOUNT OF PARIS : LIVING, EATING, AND TRYING TO SPEAK FRENCH

Monday, October 10, 2011

DOING WHAT YOU LOVE

Upon hearing about Steve Jobs' unfortunate passing, Elze shared this incredible speech with me. Watching it gave me absolute chills and brought tears to my eyes.





Though this is a speech he gave six years ago it is so pertinent now at his death. He talks about how important it is to do what you love and that he asked himself everyday upon waking if he would still go and do what he was planning to do knowing he would die that day. If he said, "no" to that question too many days in a row he knew it was time for a change. Finding your career is like choosing a life partner, it should fit, it should be heavenly, it should be something you always want to do, always want to be a part of. 

Most importantly "No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you...Sorry to be so dramatic but its quite true. Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other people's opinons drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." 

While I may not wake up every morning and leap out of bed, excited to go to my internship, at the same time I still do, actually enjoy it. Some days may be terrible. Some days I may want to cry. Some days I feel as if I'm not learning anything or I'm jealous of others in my kitchen because of what they are allowed to do. And yet I still get out of bed every morning. I still drag myself to work and put on my chef clothes. Why?

I do all of this because it is what I truly want to do. I want to make pastries. I want to make things so delicious, both to the eye and to the mouth, that they make everyone feel happy. Food is incredible. It is something that only human beings share. Sure all animals may eat but people have turned this biological imperative into something beautiful, charming, and into a way that we communicate to each other, for the future, and towards the past. 

It is this that I love most about pastries. Everyone has to eat and yet no one has to eat dessert. You can fill every physical need with a main meal but dessert is what truly embodies how people indulge themselves with food. It is for this reason that I believe dessert is able to make us all feel like children. Children live in the moment and this allows them to truly indulge themselves for they do not worry about the ramifications of such actions. They do not care if they get sick from too much sugar because that will happen later, not now. They do not care if it keeps them up all night because that will happen later, not now. They do not care if they get fat, or acne, or digestion problems. All they care about is the moment, and that is what dessert is all about. 
And so I wake up every morning and make myself go to this internship because I know it is a key step in the path towards my passion. I have never wanted anything more in my life. I want to make people happy. I want to make people feel like children again. I want to feed people. I want to live in the now and encourage others to do the same. I want to make desserts.

I feel so lucky to have found something that I feel this way about at such a young age. It may have taken me a while to realize it but deep down I always knew this is what I wanted to do. Even as a child I would put off doing my homework and instead take on the task of making some ridiculously intense dessert. In college I made Thanksgiving dinner for twelve of my fellow friends in a small and old kitchen. As a young adult I've had numerous dinner parties and always go above and beyond what any 24 year old beer addicted person would expect but for me it's about making people feel like they are getting all they want and more. It's about excess, fulfillment, indulgence. It's about fulfilling dreams people mat not have even had yet. 

Steve Jobs was more than an incredible human being. Whatever your feelings may be about Mac or Pixar no one can deny the phenomenal impact they have had on the world, and not just the technological one. And yet he did all of these things not because he wanted to change the world, not because he wanted to make money. He did these things because he followed his heart and stumbled into success. He always held true to one thing, and that was doing what he loved. 

I know that I will never be as successful as Steve Jobs when it comes to money or global impact but I can be as successful as he was in feeling self-fulfilled and content. So though it may be a rough journey at least I am walking towards my wildest dreams, and they really aren't all that far away. 

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