We all question our purpose in life at some point in our lives - sometimes many times in our life.
Lately I've been really thinking about what my purpose is supposed to be here in this lifetime. We often read about people doing amazing things - building schools for the under privileged, feeding the hungry, etc.
Whenever I meditated on this subject, I kept going back to my jewelry business, which to be perfectly honest, was really frustrating! It felt so trivial. While other people are actually making a big difference in world, I'm making handmade jewelry. I just didn't get it. I felt like I should apologize for my seemingly materialistic calling. What the heck?
About a month ago, during my morning walk (you'll hear me often refer to this walk because this is when I seem to get my best inspiration), I decided to stop fighting my inner voice and accept what I kept going back to - that my jewelry business was, in some way, my purpose in life. I decided to 'go with the flow' and see what happened. I can say that I was immediately relieved and enthusiastic. Rather than fight my inner voice, I was going to get on with what made me happy - living my dream of running my own jewelry design business.
I think it was later that week that I came across the book 'The Success Principles' (synchronicity, perhaps?). I downloaded it onto my Kindle and committed myself to reading one principle per day and working on obtaining my dream of a successful business - no more apologizing to myself for not taking the time to cure world hunger or find the cure to cancer. I was going to go full board into my business.
Very quickly into the book, I came upon Principle #2 - 'Be Clear Why You're Here' - aka - find your purpose. This book has an exercise to determine your purpose. The steps are as follows:
1. List two of your unique personal qualities. I chose 'creativity' and 'intuition'.
2. List ways you enjoy expressing those qualities when interacting with others. I chose to 'help', 'support', inspire, and 'mentor'.
3. Assume the world is perfect right now. What does it look like? I chose 'everyone was pursuing their own dreams and living the life they want - working in a way that expresses themselves and enjoying their time.
4. Combine them into one statement.
So, within 10 minutes. I had it. Here is my purpose:
My purpose is to use my creativity and intuition to help, mentor, and inspire other women who want to live their dreams of running their own business.
It suddenly made so much sense! Every time I spoke about my business to other women and they exclaimed how much they wished they could ditch the 9 to 5 job and do the same thing, I would enthusiastically encourage them.
I get so excited when I read my purpose (which I do every day). It inspires me and motivates me to do my best. I guess that's how I know that it is right for me.
Perform this exercise on your own - what do you come up with? Are you surprised or does it make sense to you?
I'm not sure yet how I will go about serving this purpose. I hope this blog is a start and will blossom into other ideas as time goes on. I will take it one day at a time, work on my own business and see what transpires.
I feel very strongly that it's important to have a support system when you venture out on your own and pursue your passion. Women are great about supporting each other and lending an ear when others need to vent or need feedback on an idea. I hope this blog can help in that way. I welcome comments and a regular dialog.
What is going on in your business? Are you already well established, just starting out or are you still contemplating making that leap into independence?
