The "Spark"

Over the course of the last few days, I have come to a realization about myself and my feelings toward other people. It isn't a particularly revolutionary or life-changing realization; it's just interesting. I now realize that I am drawn to people that have what I refer to as "the spark".

It's somewhat difficult to explain the spark sufficiently, but I will do my best. The spark can manifest itself in different ways in different people. Sometimes it's that very strong internal drive people have to succeed and excel. Sometimes it's a person's innate intelligence and sharp wit. Other times it's vigor, the strength of a person's character, or even what some others might refer to as "having an attitude". There are probably dozens of further examples, but hopefully by now you essentially understand what I'm trying to capture.

When I first started at my current company, coworkers of mine would often say to me, "stay away from _____, they're miserable," or "you don't want to have to deal with _____, they're a real pain." I took the warning under advisement, but decided that I wanted to give the people a chance and make my own call as to what they're really all about." Many of the people that I was warned about now report to me, and as it turns out, most of them are among the people that I regard very highly and always look to as my "go-to" people. I have a developed a very good working relationship with two of these people, and find that they are the two people that I most enjoy working with out of the 41 people in my department. The other day I was pondering all of this and it dawned on me: they have the spark! That is why I feel so strongly about them. I started to think about all of the other people throughout my life that I have had similar feelings about and I recognized that the spark really does seem to be the common thread. When I see that spark in people, I am just really drawn to that quality in them and I can relate to those people more easily.

Like I mentioned earlier, this realization is nothing earth-shattering, but it always feels good to learn something new about yourself and make that sort of connection. It really helps to bring things together and provide you a basis for understanding other aspects of your personality down the road.