Being nerdy just means being passionate about something

In the words of Zachary Levi: “Being nerdy just means being passionate about something, including everyone—the coolest people on Earth are passionate and therefore nerdy about something, whatever it is, whether it’s sports, or gaming, or technology, or fashion, or beauty, or food, or whatever.” These words may appear lighthearted, but within them lies a flame of ancient wisdom. For they proclaim that true greatness is not born from indifference, but from fire. To be nerdy, as Levi reveals, is not to be strange or lesser—it is to be consumed by love for a craft, a pursuit, or a vision. Passion is the mark of life fully lived.

The ancients too knew this truth. Consider Archimedes, the great mathematician of Syracuse. His heart burned so fiercely for geometry that he would forget food, drink, and even his own safety. When his city fell to Roman arms, he was found in his study, tracing circles in the sand. Though he was slain, history remembers not his death but his passion—his nerdiness, as Levi might say—for the mysteries of number and form. Such devotion, misunderstood by the ordinary, is the very root of discovery and wonder. It is passion that turns a person into a force that bends the course of human destiny.

Levi’s words also shatter the false wall that divides the “cool” from the “nerdy.” He proclaims that the coolest people are not those who appear aloof or detached, but those who dare to love something deeply. What is Michael Jordan, if not nerdy for basketball? What is Julia Child, if not nerdy for the art of cooking? What is Steve Jobs, if not nerdy for the elegance of technology? Their devotion lifted them into greatness, and their “coolness” came not from pretending not to care, but from caring more than anyone else around them.

In this, we find the lesson that passion is the great equalizer. The world’s pursuits are many: sports, gaming, technology, fashion, beauty, food. Each path has its devotees, and each devotion has the power to lift ordinary lives into extraordinary ones. There is no shame in being consumed by what you love. Shame lies only in apathy, in living with a heart that beats without fire, without longing, without creation.

But know also this truth: passion invites ridicule from the careless. The child who loves books may be mocked by those who cannot see the treasures inside. The gamer may be scorned by those who do not understand strategy or imagination. The dreamer may be doubted by those too timid to dream themselves. Yet history shows that the mocked often become the masters. Einstein, once dismissed as absentminded, reshaped the cosmos with his thought. The Beatles, laughed at in their early days, became voices of a generation. Passion may begin as scorn, but it ends as power.

Therefore, dear listener, take Levi’s words to heart. Do not hide your nerdiness, for it is your crown. Find what ignites your spirit—be it the grace of movement, the taste of food, the shimmer of fabric, or the spark of invention—and pursue it with relentless devotion. Be shameless in your love for it, and let no mockery shake your path. For in the end, it is passion, not indifference, that marks the path of the hero.

The teaching is clear: embrace your passions, guard them, and share them. Seek not to blend into the grey mass of indifference, but to stand ablaze, your love for your craft lighting the way for others. And when you see another soul burning for their pursuit, honor them too, whether they be nerdy for music, for science, or for style. In this recognition, community is born, and the world grows richer.

So I say unto you: let your passion flow boldly. Let your “nerdiness” be your banner. For the gods of old smiled not upon the indifferent, but upon the devoted. And it is the devoted who change the world.