Which camp do you fall into: (1) You love love love the work that you do, never get exhausted and could do it all day long and often think I cannot believe that I get paid to do this!!! Or (2) You drag yourself out of bed each morning, use up scarce energy to avoid people and situations that drain you, are bored with mind-numbing tasks, all while watching the clock until you can crash in exhaustion and wake up to do it all again the next day?
I really hope that no one is in option #2, yet I know that many people are. So my question is …. Why are you spending most of your waking hours doing things that do not fire up your passion and do not contribute meaning to your life or to the world?
The answers I often hear are legitimate, but not insurmountable: I need the money in my current job, I’m not educated enough to change jobs, my family needs me, there are no other jobs out there, or I have no idea what gives me passion. If you are #2, what you are doing is continually draining your energetic bank account to where you will have energy debt that you feel you cannot crawl out of. I don’t know of anyone who would intentionally chose that for themselves. Do you?
Recently I was reading Defy Gravity by Caroline Myss. This book helps you to identify what gives your life meaning and to look at how much time you spend each day on it (yes, each day, not each week or month)? This helps you to know if you are spending too much time each day in work/activities that do not give meaning and what you need to do right now in order to feel useful and fulfilled. It’s an opportunity to look at your life priorities and determine how much time you give away every day. For most people, we have a list of what is important yet we spend little if any time each day on them.
Going through this process is eye opening and shines a light on where you are frankly wasting your precious time. We hear people say all of the time (heck, you may even say it) that life is precious. We all know that sudden tragedies can strike that can change your life forever (or end it). So why would you intentionally spend your precious days doing something that does not give you joy or worse … something that you absolutely hate??? And saying that you do it for the paycheck is not a good answer because paychecks can be found everywhere if you get clear and decide that you deserve better.
Everyone has a passion; if you don’t know what it is, it is likely covered up in the junk of life. Make yourself get quiet and meditate to figure it out. Or look to what you naturally do in your spare time to get an idea. The things that make you happy are your clue! Some of you may think that you don’t have sufficient education or skill to do what you are really passionate about. Look at it this way … break down into very specific tasks what you love to do. For example:
• If you love to interact with a wide variety of people that you don’t know, you would be great working in a restaurant or shopping store.
• If you love to work with animals, work at an animal shelter, veterinary clinic, or dog walking service.
• If you love to work by yourself and love computers, the opportunities for online work are endless.
The busyness of everyday life prevents too many people from taking the time to figure out if they are actually doing what brings them passion and meaning. The next thing they know, they are attending their 20th high school reunion and reflect on their life to realize that they are in a place that they don’t like or did not intend. It’s never too late to spend your time doing what you love.
Take the time to figure it out. You’re the only one who can live your life. You were born into this world at this time to do something unique. That uniqueness can truly be putting a smile on people’s faces every morning as you make delicious coffee at your local café. Your passion and meaning does not need to involve ending world hunger … it could be helping people smile. You deserve to spend your life doing things that make you happy and give meaning. Don’t cheat yourself out of living your life passion!
And going back to the question up top, I am thrilled that I am in option #1. Energy laws, energy healing, crystals, animals and helping others are my passion. I cannot believe that I get to work in these areas everyday!!! How cool is that???? But it wasn’t always that way. I did the work to get here. And even now there are some areas where I spend too much time with people and situations that do not ignite my passion or give me meaning, and I’m taking steps to lessen that. Remember, we’re all a work in progress so take just one step today towards living a life with passion and meaning. One step sweet pea! Easy-peasy!!!
If you’re in a situations where you have a significant energy debt and cannot find your passion and meaning, check out my coaching options and let me help you. I love love love to help people find their passion.
All my best,
About Allie:
Allie is a unique combination of self-empowerment coach (Certified Law of Attraction Counselor and Life Coach), energy therapist (Usui Reiki Master-Teacher, Integrated Energy Therapy Master-Instructor, and Advanced Crystal Master), award-winning book author, attorney and nationally-recognized animal advocate. Whether it’s wanting more freedom, creativity, loving relationships, financial security, wellbeing, relaxation … she looks at each person and animal holistically and creates a well-being plan. She holistically combines these methods to help people gain control of their lives and to help animals live with comfort in our hectic world. It worked for her and will work for you! She particularly loves helping our animal companions because for those of us who have them grace our worlds, they are our soul mates.
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