I’ve been thinking long and hard lately about why I do what I do.
Why I’ve chosen to work for myself when its challenging, and I don’t make as much money as I used to.
Why I put myself out there time and time again, announcing new events and workshops when I struggle to fill them.
Why I work on weekends and late into the night creating new worksheets and templates, even though I don’t have clients ready to buy them.
Why even when I’m throwing a tantrum and considering quitting, I still get up the next day and keep going.
Why do I do all this when it’s not easy?
And there are several answers….
Because I believe the best things in life aren’t always easy.
I don’t want to look back and think I could’ve done that.
And because I simply can’t stop.
A few years back I identified and connected with a deep yearning. A message and an idea that I cared so deeply about I couldn’t give up on it or let it go.
So I invested in it, I created a platform to showcase it and I now gather my strengths and resources everyday to support sharing it.
It’s a deep desire and passion and that never goes away.
I could try to deny it, busy myself up, earn bigger bucks, take jobs that don’t fit, but I don’t want to.
I want to live a purposeful life that aligns with me and honours my yearning.
That means I’ll continue to figure out ways to support more people, to help them bring their best selves to things that matter most. That’s my thing.
Its sounds wordy and maybe it is. It’s more of a feeling I have. A knowing I get. A story I want to share. An idea that arrives when I talk to people.
It’s the constant thinking of ways I can help make ‘futures’ better than ‘todays’. And I can’t not do it. It’s my intended life.
I’m willing to sacrifice for it, make bold decisions to move ahead with it and I often risk failure to keep going. And still it feels good.
Because I don’t want to look back and think I wanted to do this and never tried.
Loving life doesn’t require an exact plan or perfect set of goals. Its finding and connecting with the yearning within.
It’s celebrating all that you are, honouring your desires and using your strengths.
If you want to love life more start to pay attention to those things you can’t not do and look for clues.
Are you a connector? Do you love bringing people together? Are you a creator, an artist an ideas person?
Do you love to educate, and support growth and change? Does organising light you up or researching and collating information?
Do you have a passionate anger that wants to drive change? A disease you want cured, an environmental issue that needs attention or does animal cruelty reduce you to tears?
What makes you unique? What do your strengths, skills, interests and experience all point toward?
Ask yourself what matters, what’s important, what you desire. The answers aren’t out there, be prepared to search within.
If you want life to fill you up, you have to know yourself and make decisions that support your overall vision.
Of course you can continue doing what you’re doing, just how you’re doing it, but don’t expect to get anything different or be more fulfilled.
You don’t want to look back and think I could have, I wanted to… In fact you don’t want to look back at all.
Because if you can look forward you can move forward.
I know which way I’m going. How about you?
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