When I ask women what they are passionate about, most are stumped.Who has time to be passionate about anything? By the time you make breakfast and the children’s lunches, get everyone off to school, get yourself to work, where you handle everyone else’s problems all day long, including having to leave work early to pick up little Johnny from school because he has an ear infection and deal with your boss’ minor meltdown over the latest figures that just came in from corporate – and it’s only noon – you’re exhausted. By the time you fall into bed around 2:00 am, the last thing on your mind is, “How can I re-ignite my passion so I can live a life of purpose?”
But maybe it should be. I know, I know. You don’t have time to re-discover your passion, let alone re-ignite it, but you’re doing a disservice to everyone by not doing so. Don’t believe me? Let me give you an example.
Awhile back I was listening to a sacred call on Season 3 of Inspired Living Secrets, The call was with host and guest Lisa Marie Rosati – a fellow goddess and columnist for Aspire. Lisa Marie shared an awakening she experienced on an airplane. She was listening to the flight attendant talk about how you should put your own oxygen mask on before putting those on your children and she thought to herself, “That is absolutely not what I would do. I would put it on my children first.” And then it occurred to her: that was her problem. “If we don’t have any oxygen, how are we going to save our children? And that’s why you put it on yourself first, so you can be of service to others.”
Bingo. And that’s when I realized I had been so busy giving my oxygen/power away to other people; I was spending so much time serving others, I had no more oxygen left. And that’s true for most of the women I know. We’re so low on oxygen, we can barely breathe – let alone discover our passion and live our purpose in life.
This has to stop.
As the caregivers of society, we need oxygen, energy, power; yet most of us have been giving it all away. And ultimately, that isn’t serving anyone. It’s time to change our focus. It’s time to take care of ourselves. It’s time to rediscover our passion – what makes our soul sing.
Is that selfish? No. It’s survival. It’s putting your oxygen mask on first so you can be of service to others.
I challenge you to do this: spend some time each day putting on your oxygen mask. That is, do something that makes your soul sing, something that ignites your passion, gives you focus and meaning in life – something just for you. Don’t take the kids with you. Don’t invite your significant other. This is YOU time. If that seems daunting, start with 5 minutes a day. Then 10, then 20, then 30.
Just what are you supposed to do with this new YOU time? If you’re not used to taking what I like to call “Goddess Breaks” for yourself during the day, figuring out what you want to do with your newfound “Me” time can be confounding, if not frustrating.
I have a few ideas for you. One of my friends, Brenda, likes to stay grounded by painting a little bit every day. Painting may not be your thing, but most women feel passionate when they allow themselves time to play, explore, and be creative. Try one of these on for size:
• Take a dance class – ballroom, hip hop, belly dancing, ballet, pole dancing – whatever type of movement makes you feel like the luscious, sensual goddess you are!
• Pick up a paint brush or crayon or piece of chalk and start drawing – Melody got so into it she ended up painting a mural on her bedroom wall!
• Go for a nature walk – if your creativity scares you, start small – just get out there and move. But don’t be Type A about it, and no iPods! Notice things… the birds chirping, the way the grass feels under your bare feet, the sound of water running in the stream next to you.
• Take a drama class or act in a community play
• Take voice lessons or join a choir – it doesn’t matter if you have talent or not, the point is to do something you enjoy that gets you a little out of your comfort zone.
• Grab your child’s coloring book and some crayons and go to town – color Elmo purple while you’re at it. Remember: there’s nothing right or wrong when you’re letting your creative, passionate self out to play.
• Take a jewelry making class and design a beautiful goddess pendant, something that will remind you of the passionate goddess you are every time you wear it
- Take a pottery class – make and/or decorate your own flower vase. Then go buy or pick some flowers to put in it!
• Grab a marker and draw your feelings – see what shape and color your feelings look like right now
• Pick wildflowers
• Learn to sew, knit, or crochet and make yourself a beautiful, flowy dress or skirt
• Write a poem – it doesn’t even have to rhyme. Just put the words down on paper.
• Start that novel you’ve been meaning to write for the past 15 years.
• Color your hair a fun color – even if it’s only one strand in the back that only you will know about
• Get a tattoo that symbolizes your newfound freedom – every time you look at it, it will serve as a reminder that you are a goddess
Ladies, you’ve gone without your oxygen mask for too long. It’s time to put it back on. It’s time to take care of you, to re-discover and reignite your passion in life. It’s time to focus on serving yourself so you have enough left to serve others.
Remember: You are a Goddess. You were brought here for one purpose and one purpose only: to share your gifts and your inner light with the world. Isn’t it about time you started re-igniting your passion so you can do just that?
Mary makes great points in this article – we need to create more fun in life. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you generate a smile and the feeling of “this is for me and I feel good about it”.