Enthusiasm: what's the deal?

is it because my parents are divorced?

Didjaknow: Caring is Cool originally started as a business called The Enthusiast & Co, est. 2018 (It began as a response to the wedding business I set up in my third year of uni, and the questions I got from people thinking it was weird I was so obsessed with weddings at the tender age of 21¹. I didn’t think it was weird that I loved weddings; I thought it was weird that people thought it was weird. After nearly a year of it niggling away at the back of my brain, I set up The Enthusiast to give it the separate space it deserved).

Over the years, it’s had a product shop (where the “caring is cool” slogan tshirt was the standout bestseller), a lifestyle brand, a magazine and a podcast. I speak on stages about the power of enthusiasm and caring. But I realised something that I’ve never shared on here: why all the fuss on enthusiasm?

Simply put, it’s what makes life worth living. And I know that’s a bold claim and some big words — something I’m usually so hesitant to do on the internet I wonder if I should write anything at all — but it’s something I’m sticking to, and its magnitude and magnificence is why you need it too (not because you’re not already magnificent, obviously; just because we’re going to crank it up even more).

Enthusiasm itself can be hard to define. It’s zeal, zest, zhujzh, and joie de vivre. In the dictionary, enthusiasm is described as:

“intense enjoyment, interest, or approval; great eagerness to be involved in a particular activity which you like and enjoy or which you think is important.”

Yet, in society, it’s often met with disapproval and a distinct lack of interest. This is what I wanted — and still want — to change.

Throughout the years, enthusiasm has worn many guises. Originally, it meant religious devotion (which is where the word comes from, if you’re a word nerd like me); which is how it also acquired a negative connotation in the 1700s. Since then, it’s become a capitalist buzzword, as beloved by titans of industry in the early 20th century (looking at you, Henry Ford!!!) as it is by job hunters writing CVs in the early 21st.

Over the years, we’ve not only lost sight of why enthusiasm is crucial; we’ve come to actively reject it. As we began to prioritise looking, feeling, and being “cool”, enthusiasm went from a positive to a negative². It became embarrassing. Suddenly, enthusiasm was “cringe”.

Thankfully, even in the past few years since I set The Enthusiast up, there’s been a really noticeable (and needed) pushback. We’ve discoursed ourselves (almost) dry on the concept of ‘cringe’, and the needle is moving so that it’s now something people know they can embrace (or, at least, be seen to be embracing…)

The truth is, being enthusiastic can help so many things. It can improve your mental health, your physical health, your relationships, your work, and other people’s as well. There’s very little it can’t better — even if only by a marginal gain.

Whether it’s on the playground, your Facebook profile or at your desk, enthusiasm is an incredible force we need to harness, protect and nourish.

And that’s why.

Main image by Thyra Morton

1. Another — related — question I got asked a lot: “Do you think it’s because your parents are divorced?”

2. What I call “the reverse Pitbull”