My roommate, James, and I get into glorious arguments. Anyone who knows either of us understands that we’re two of the most passionate people you’ll ever meet. We also both have a stubborn streak, which isn’t quite as commendable as the whole passion thing, but the two things combined in two people lead to brilliant fights.

Luckily, rarely fight about stupid shit that doesn’t matter. I don’t really care that he forgets to put the toilet seat down (except on days that I don’t notice and my bum gets wet, that always causes me to smack him) and he doesn’t really care that I sometimes play Lady Gaga on repeat when we’re in the care (and my “not care” I mean that I think he’s learned to zone out, close his eyes and go to his happy place while Bad Romance is playing for the fourteenth time). No, our fights are about things that matter - at least to us. And it usually ends in door-slamming, followed by apologizing and moving on with life a few minutes later. Never go to bed mad, that’s what I always say.

Anyway, yesterday, we got into one of our huge fights, this time about the video game industry and a writer’s place in it (yeah, we’re total geeks, it’s fine), and the argument raged on for at least a few hours, ranging on the pissed-off scale from “mildly annoyed that his/her opinion is different” to “TOTAL RAGE”.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

While I’m usually a pretty pleasant person to be around (and so is James), our fights are fueled by total passion. At the end, I usually still don’t agree with him, but I’ve almost always learned something, had my mind changed about something, or grown as a person. Passion is a good thing, and while I’m glad that their a few people who make me want to throw things out of passion the way James does, I’d rather have a friend that is completely passionate about things like I am than a friend who just tries to get along with everyone.

We were so passionate about our debate, in fact, that neither of us noticed it had snowed. When I went to lock the door before going to bed that night, I was like, “Holy crap, how did we miss like, three inches of snow falling?” When you don’t notice the weather because you’re so passionately involved in life, that’s a good thing.

Be passionate. That’s the lesson here. No hidden message BS. Just be passionate. Find things that you believe in strongly enough to want to yell when someone disagrees. Furthermore:

• Don’t create products because you think you’ll make a lot of money - create a product because you’re so passionate about it that you need to sell it to other people.
• Don’t worry so much about finding a job you love today - worry about finding your passion and then work on a plan to either make that your job or make enough money with a job that requires as few hours as possible so you can pursue that passionate outside of work.
• Don’t force passion because you’re good at something. Do what you’re good at as a job so you can afford to fill as much of your life as possible with your passion.

And lastly? Don’t let your passion blind you. James and I know - passion can ruin a friendship if you aren’t careful. At the end of the day, take a step back and remember that you’re passionate about things, ideas, activities, and they really aren’t that important in the scope of life. Make your primary passion the people in your life who you love, and when you’re done fighting, hug and make up.