Personal Narrative-Stick Welding

Passion is an extravagant desire, skill, capability, or aptitude allowing you to perform something with maximum effort and not be hindered by mental or physical capacity. A few months ago, I thought I would never have a passion. My life was set on auto pilot, and I had nothing to look forward to or what I was going to do after high school. Passion, to me, was a made up term used for fairy tale movies. When my junior year of high school started, things took a major change. The year before, I signed up for dual-credit welding, mainly because it sounded like an easy class to get dual credits from. On top of that, I have always felt comfortable around workshop environments, so it was a win-win situation for me. The first few weeks of welding
We started out using (SMAW), or better known as stick welding. Using the techniques I learned on the internet, I ran my first bead. From my standpoint, the bead wasn’t as good as the flawless welds I’d seen online, but others in my class were surprised. I had just started welding, and I was creating beads as good as them. I told myself I could improve much more, and each bead I ran was superior to the last. Welding soon consumed me. It was my favorite class, it was something I looked forward to each day, it became my life. I continued to study welding online, and each day, I raised the bar even higher in the quality of my welds. I soon progressed further than most of my peers in the class, despite my limited
Welding is my purpose, my objective, my once hidden passion. When I weld, the feeling is like no other. I’m calm, focused, and satisfied at the same time. I don’t get easily distracted like other subjects in school. Outside forces are irrelevant when I flip my hood down. As soon as I strike the arc, the only thing that matters is having consistent rod movement and producing my weld unblemished as possible. I operate like a well oiled machine, where my only purpose is to weld. I believe I wouldn't be able to improve so swiftly in welding if it wasn't my passion. I now have peace of mind that I have something to pursue after high school. Welding is my passion, and I shall pursue it like