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The Force

Can we normalize not telling people they are too passionate?

Somewhere along the line, passionate became a backhanded compliment.
You are not intense, you’re too much.
You are not invested, you’re emotional.
You are not committed, you’re overreacting.

What this is, is policing energy that makes people uncomfortable. Passion is not the problem. Complacency is.
Disengagement is.
Clocking in and checking out is.

The world needs people who care loudly. Who show up fully. Who believe so deeply it spills out in their tone, their eyes, their body language. That’s not a flaw. That’s a force.

Honestly, too passionate isn’t really about volume or tone. It’s a blanket nicety, a polite way to describe a force people are uncomfortable with. A way to mask resistance under the guise of concern. Because passion does something systems aren’t always ready for. It exposes hidden problems and forces accountability. It rejects performative harmony and disrupts the go along to get along culture that quietly preserves power imbalances. It demands real change instead of surface fixes.

You say someone is too passionate when what you really mean is they challenged you. They cared louder than you were ready for. They refused to settle for easy answers when there was clearly a deeper root. They’re not just passionate, they are root cause seekers. And instead of being praised, they are told to calm down, take it down a notch, soften their delivery.

But when passion is silenced, innovation suffers because safe ideas take over and breakthroughs die before they are even born. Equity stalls when passionate advocates for inclusion are labeled divisive. Talent bleeds away, with root cause seekers leaving cultures that don’t value their fire. Ethics erode as whistleblowers and truth tellers get neutralized as overly emotional.

So when you hear you’re too passionate, stop and rethink what’s really being said. Instead of dismissing that energy, invite the conversation. What’s at stake if we ignore this? How can we channel this into action? Because passion isn’t the problem, comfort with the status quo is.

If you are someone who gets this label, own your power. Your intensity isn’t a flaw. It’s a lens that exposes the cracks others choose to ignore. Seek environments that fuel your fire, not those that demand you dim your light. And when you are told to soften, respond with curiosity, I hear you’re uncomfortable. Let’s discuss why this issue deserves strong feelings.

Passion is the engine of evolution. Every major shift social, scientific, artistic was powered by people called too much. Too loud like Malala demanding education, too stubborn like those who bet on electric cars before it was cool, too disruptive like Kaepernick taking a knee. What some call too much, history calls catalytic.


The world won’t change by toning down truth.
It changes when passion dares to stay loud. You don’t need to tone it down. You need a room built to hold what you carry.

ღ Chi


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