Entry #8 — Don’t Trade Curiosity For Approval

Diaries Of A Father

Passion + discipline = love.

Love + consistency = obsession.

Obsession + time = purpose.

Living without pursuing something meaningful slowly hollows a person out.

You wake up, go to work, blend in, do what everyone else is doing, scroll, stare at a screen, let social media dictate your actions, thoughts, and feelings, and go to sleep.

Before you know it, you’re living inside the confines of a life you never consciously chose.

It’s easy to mistake comfort for fulfilment and fitting in for belonging. It’s easy to silence the quiet voice asking, “Is this really it?”

What would your 12-year-old self think of you right now?

Disappointed?

Or proud?

As parents, we carry a responsibility greater than safety and stability. We’re supposed to protect their curiosity, encourage their questions, let them explore, chase the unusual, the unlikely, and the nonsensical.

Because purpose rarely appears practical at first.

If we suppress their passions simply because we don’t understand them or its not what we want for them, we teach them something dangerous: not to trust themselves, to conform, to trade instinct for approval.

But the people who build lives with real meaning and happiness aren’t the ones who blended in. They’re the fringe, the obsessed, those with the audacity to follow their own inclinations.

They say, “Fuck fitting in—this is who I am.”

A proclivity toward meaningful work isn’t a flaw — it’s a signal.

Follow it without hesitation.

Because somewhere along the way, the majority traded their curiosities and passions for approval… and called it “growing up.” In doing so, they lost their lust for life and it’s inherent beauty.

- Written by Mike Brion