When I was a teenager, I definitely had a deep love for writing. That love has long continued into adulthood and been the most consistent love of my life.
But I haven’t used my writing to create purpose, not to the full capacity. So why?
You’re probably asking if it’s you love, then why are you’re doing it, running at it full-speed and creating purpose?
The easiest and most honest answer is, writing jobs are hard to get (or so I was conditioned to believe), and I didn’t want to be just any writer. I wanted to be a novelist.
I was on the track to be just a writer when I got my first SEO content writing job for an automotive group in Colorado. Honestly, it was boring, but it was definitely a start nonetheless.
The problem was, I was a creative writer, loved focusing on the details, painting grand pictures, and crafting stories people could disappear into. I wanted to be the next Kristin Hannah when I was 19 years old.
After surpassing the age of 30, I am just now publishing my first fiction novel. So what took me so long?
To Create Purpose You Need to Find Your Purpose & Hold Onto It
When I was a teenager, I created this purpose, which was based on a number of things.
- My background in the energy healing practices I grew up in.
- My love and aptitude for writing.
- The deep desire to connect with people everywhere.
- The intense emotions I carried with me.
I knew as a teenager that I wanted to write and inspire people. And then, when I read my first Kristin Hannah novel, True Colors, I knew that I definitely was going to do that through writing books.
My first writing job as an SEO content writer eventually transformed into scriptwriting for TV and radio advertisements. At the same time, I was doing this, I was fresh off my traveling high after being a Peace Corps Volunteer in China, so I was trying to build up my first travel blog as well. Slowly, I started developing skills in all things marketing, which inevitably led me to this place I am in.
I am now an all-around marketer for a company in California. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that other than, my writing, over the years, habitually ended up on the backburner. And mostly because it just didn’t bring me the same income as marketing jobs have.
So it became a choice between taking a job that I liked and paid well, but wasn’t entirely my true passion or take on my life’s passion for little pay.
You can see where the dilemma lies for me.
So my true purpose, for years has just kind of been pushed to the back for the sake of my own survival. It has never been a true priority.
Despite it, I have fought to make it one, including my love for writing and even reading, to make sure it is in my life somewhere and I don’t lose it.
What Sacrificing Our Purpose Does To Us
I’ll be the first to admit, I am not always the greatest at self-talk and how I choose to believe things. But I constantly work to talk to myself in healthier ways.
When we don’t carry out our purpose, we lack excitement in everything else we ever do.
I know there are great writers out there making their money for writing and honestly, good for them! But for those of us who are struggling in that area, just know, it’s making you feel less and less like you are doing what you feel you’re on this planet to do.
Here are 3 ways not living your purpose could affect you.
1. You’re Not Happy
I can tell you, I am happiest when I am writing. I am also happiest when I am creating something beautiful, which means I have taken a new love for designing things. Unfortunately, I don’t always time to pursue them with ferocity.
If you’re not really living a purposeful life, you’re not really happy. But, hey, if that’s how you would like to live, no judgments here.
But if you’re anything like me and want to make the most of your life, it may be time to create purpose and live your life with more intent.
2. You’re Afraid
You fear doing what you love because you don’t want to ruin that love for your passion. So you convince yourself to take the safe option.
Contrary to popular beliefs about “not doing what you love”, I think you can do a healthy combination of both. Do what you love and use it in a way that might benefit others.
For example, I want to assist people in healing. I like doing energy healing, but I love writing and feel what I have to say can touch people, inspire them, inspiring their healing, and help them to change. This way, I can do both.
I can also use my marketing skills and knowledge to also be of benefit. I can do this by selling my services, blogging, choosing powerful topics that draw people in, enriching my content with valuable information, or whatever it may be.
My point is, everything I have learned this far is giving me the tools I need to create purpose for myself and carry out that purpose to the best of my ability.
3. You’re Too Comfortable
I think we never really grow if we start getting too comfortable with where we are. Contentment can be a great thing, but if it means you’re stalled in taking any risks (like creating your purpose) that might afford you outrageously wonderful benefits and rewards.
I know, for a fact, that without the challenges of my time in Peace Corps China, I would not be the same person I am today. I would see the world with completely different eyes.
Was Peace Corps challenging? Absolutely.
Was it also incredible? Without a doubt.
Am I better for it? I can say with full confidence that Peace Corps changed me for the better especially in those times when I was most comfortable. I am a better person because of the challenges I went through.
Creating your purpose and running with it is frightening, but it’s also wonderful. The key is believing in yourself and exercising that courage that exists within all of us.
How I Rediscovered & Declared My Purpose
Earlier this year, I joined the Create Your Purpose® Collective, which is a group of stunning women all on journeys to create their purpose and embrace it. The Create Your Purpose Collective is run by Quinn Tempest, who I brushed shoulders with at a Digital Summit in Denver around 2018.
She has put together a program specifically for women that takes them on a realistic and optimistic journey to understanding their purpose, creating it, and bringing it to fruition. For a year or so, Quinn was asking me to join, and I just couldn’t financially afford to do it; until this year.
I join the Create Your Purpose Collective and it has been nothing short of amazing.
What is the Create Your Purpose® Collective?
On Quinn’s website, she believes there are a number of things that factor into creating your purpose:
- A philosophy that encompasses a new way of living and building a business.
- A movement driven by entrepreneurs who want to create a meaningful life AND an impactful business, without sacrificing one for the other.
- A mindset based around empowerment, openness, and creativity (with a dash of magic).
- A conversation between like-minded people all across the globe who want to buck the status quo and create their own meaning through their work.
- A community of entrepreneurs who support each other along their journey to building a life and business on purpose.
Through the course, I was able to do simple, thought-provoking, and incredibly helpful modules that helped me identify my passions, likes, dislikes, constraints, obstacles, challenges, and achievements.
You can learn more about the Create Your Purpose® Collective and get involved yourself if you feel this is a right fit for you. I am telling you.
It is totally worth it, and you get forever access to all the resources provided and an empowering group of women that will stick with you!
Create Purpose & Make Your Declaration
It was on one of the modules that I was able to identify my purpose and make a declaration. In the exercise, we were instructed to create something with this declaration on it.
I chose to use Canva to create my own little declaration. So what is my declaration?
I write to inspire, heal, and transform, so we can feel more connected.
Below is the graphic I created to go along with it.
After I created this declaration and this graphic, I remember the same promise I made to myself as a young girl. That I would use my love for writing to reach people, inspire them, touch them, heal them, and transform them. On a mass level. I wanted to raise the world’s vibration and I knew the best way to do that is through my writing.
What I am Doing Now After I Created My Purpose
My writing, like I said, has never stopped. It may have wavered, but it still something I love very deeply and has managed to go hand-in-hand with a lot of really spectacular things that have been given to me.
Just remembering this declaration has reminded me that I have been living my purpose but not really intentionally knowing it.
I started living this purpose in October 2020 when I started writing for Elephant Journal. And I elevated that purpose in November 2020 when I used NaNoWriMo to start writing my first book.
Since writing for Elephant Journal, I have amassed thousands of reads for the honest, raw, mindful, and truthful things I have written. My first novel is coming to the end of the editing stages and will be published THIS YEAR.
Not only that, this book turned into a series! Not to mention, I added two extra books outside that series to the queue that I will be writing in the coming years.
As much as 2020 was a mess, it was really the start of me living my purpose with intention. Without the Create Your Purpose® Collective and Quinn’s diligent encouragement, I think it would have taken me a long time to hone in on that purpose and run with it.
