Whether you know it or not, your life isn’t meant to be without passion and purpose.
You aren’t supposed to be struggling so much to find something to care about. It isn’t supposed to be enormously difficult to uncover a thing – anything – that matters to you.
If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ll know that I hate posts that tell you to wake up to the fact that you’ll be dying any moment now, and so you’d better get on this living thing – without providing any further instruction. Annoying. (If you didn’t know that about me, you can read more about it here and here.)
So this post isn’t going to be about that. It’s not going to be yet another post telling you TO wake up to your passion and purpose. This post is going to actually tell you HOW to do it.
Bold, I know, but read on.
Finding Passion And Purpose
Passion and purpose are a little different for everyone, which is part of why they’re so hard to nail down.
It’s not like you’re trying to build a bookcase from Ikea. There aren’t clear instructions for what it looks like before, during and after the process.
Your bookcase will look different from mine, and that’s kind of the point.
We wouldn’t want a world full of cookie-cutter Ikea bookcase/passions. It would be too boring that way.
But waking the hell up? Now that’s another matter. Because we’re all struggling with that for similar reasons, which means that we can all solve that in a similar way.
Ready for it?
Here it is:
Waking up to your passion and purpose starts with being able to sit with the sheer terror that comes with finally, truly, admitting to yourself what you really want and why you’re not going after it.
Fear
The real problem is that we’re just so afraid.
Afraid of our success.
Afraid of our failure.
Afraid of who we’ll hurt if we become who we truly are.
Afraid of who we’ll let down.
Afraid of who will no longer be there for us.
Afraid, ultimately, that somehow, in the act of becoming who we’re meant to be that we’ll destroy ourselves and possibly those around us for even trying. So it’s better to stay small, stay safe and not risk it.
But guess what? Icarus never flew too close to the sun.
You’re not going to get burned.
That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.
Can I guarantee there won’t be any bumps and bruises along the way? No.
But I can guarantee you that your current path will continue to be a painful one.
Can I guarantee no one will ever leave you for being too big or more bold than they have the courage to be? No.
But the people who are too afraid to live into their own passion and purpose won’t be inspiring for you to be around anyway.
Can I guarantee you that you won’t destroy yourself or destroy others in your quest to become the person you’re meant to be?
Almost.
I can’t see the future. But when you listen to your gut instead of your fear, you’re guided by something that’s bigger than fear. Here’s how I know:
“The universe has much bigger plans for you than you ever dreamed of for yourself.” ~Deepak Chopra
“I had to trust life and believe that life loved the person who dared to live it.” ~Maya Angelou
Things really, truly work out. You can’t destroy with energy that’s meant for creation.
You’ll outgrow things, sure. People will be afraid of the amazing things you’re doing and use that for an excuse for why they can’t be in your shadow any longer, yes.
But if you can let go of the fear of change and just accept that embracing your passions and purpose means there’s something better in store for you, you’re going to be ok.
[jbox color=blue] This week, I’m asking you to take a bold action step. But if you can do it, you’ll be giving fear the kick in the teeth it deserves.
Here’s what I’m asking you to do – answer this question in the comments below:
What is your number one fear around embracing your passion and purpose in life, and what is the first thing you need to do to let go of it? [/jbox]
_______________________________________________________________________________________
If you still have fears about your career change, sign up for my Cheat Sheet for a Fear Free Career Change here!