Everyone has something. Something bigger than them that tugs on them when their thoughts go quiet. For some people it’s athletics. For some, music. For others, it’s power and money. For me, it’s a passion to create. I am an artist.
I believe that everyone’s mind is hardwired back to one very specific “something”. I believe that “something” is what you were born to do. It’s where your greatness lies and your heart lives. It’s where success comes easy. It’s where vacations seem unneeded and work is your happy place.
It took a long time for me to really get a clear picture of what it was that was driving me. Where my passion was. It took me longer to sit with that realization and allow myself to accept it. It took a lot of self-reflection and time noodling around with different jobs, hobbies, and chores to get to the core of how to settle down that driving force in the back of my mind. I needed to create. I was built to create, regardless of what form it took. It didn’t matter what, it didn’t matter where. It could be cooking a delicious, beautifully plated treat, making a toy for my son, redesigning the décor in my living room, writing a few chapters or a couple blog posts, working on building a website, playing with photoshop or working on my photography. If I wasn’t creating, I wasn’t living my best life and I felt empty.
You see, I work a “normal” day job. I get up every morning, get my kiddo off to school and then head into the office. It’s a very nice paycheck and it gives me the resources to pay the bills, but it doesn’t always light my soul on fire. I am blessed that I have a job that allows me to work in partnership with some amazing artists. I am given the opportunity to learn from them and understand how their brain is hardwired which makes reviewing numbers, conference calls and client trips away from my kiddo all worth it.
I believe for most people, we know when we are very young what our something is and then we lose sight of it.
When you are very little there are usually a few things that you are certain about. One of them is what you love to do. That’s why it’s so cute to ask little kids “what do you want to be when you grow up”. It’s one of the purest, unjaded answers you will ever get. I want to be a vet (this child clearly loves animals). I want to be a doctor (this person loves helping others). I want to be a baseball player (this child loves sports). Most children don’t even hesitate the think about how much time it will take to become that person or the cost of school or if the salary and benefits are good. They simply tell you what they want to do, because they love to do it.
THAT’S YOUR SOMETHING – DO THAT.
If you asked me when I was a child, I always said “I want to be an artist”. I knew it back then and just had to convince my adult self that being creative wasn’t just “playing around”. I have made a promise to myself that I will never let that little girl inside of me down. I will NEVER stop asking myself what I want to be when I grow up. Every time I start to feel stuck or anxious, I will ask myself “five years from now, what do you want to be doing” and then I will do more of that. I will do as much of that as humanely possible. I will take photos on the weekends, write chapters on my phone lying in bed next to my toddler, whatever it takes to create – you can bet I will find a way to be there.
So now it’s your turn…what do you want to be when you grow up?