MELISSA R. COLLINGS ON THE LOVE OPERATION, MINDY KALING’S BOOK STUDIO, AND KILL THE THING YOU LOVE

okay so let's pause here for a second yeah you were doing your like i say we all have many jobs everybody out there has many hats you're you're in your career or you're a mom or you're this or you're that or you're a dad or you're whatever but your passion i want to get to the passion was i would assume writing were you writing as a little kid

No, it's actually oddly.

So let me tell you about how my passion works.

I was actually talking to a friend of mine about this who does a lot of different things.

And because I think it's important.

So there are some people who have a deep passion.

They're like, they want to be a provider.

They want to be a doctor.

They want to be a lawyer.

They want to be something, a nurse, a teacher.

And they are really passionate about that.

They're like, this is what I am meant to do.

This is where I am meant to be.

And I always felt a little guilty, I think, because I never had a strong passion to do any of those things.

I have a great many loves.

I love art, and you're right, I am a painter.

That was my very first love, is painting and drawing.

That artistic side is really where I feel the most at home, I think.

And it's funny, that is where I feel the most at home, but it is not what I do with my life, which is so funny.

But I decided...

I didn't know what to do with the artistic side of me.

Yes, I did write and I didn't really write all that much.

I was a storyteller.

I love telling stories through my childhood, but I never had a drive to say, oh, let me let me get into medicine.

It was like, well, this medicine makes sense in my life.