If money and time were of no issue and you could be anywhere you wanted to be in the world, what would you be doing right now? Do you know? If you have an answer, is it truly yours or one that you have heard before and merely sounds good? One of the most fascinating phenomenon that consistently shows up in my private practice is that faced with this question, most women have a hard time coming up with an answer that truly reflects their passions.
Years before I started Women in Wellness, I owned a company that built playgrounds in school yards and on the property of million-dollar homes.
This was an important experience in my life because I got a chance to talk one-on-one with a lot of women who on the outside seemed like they had it all.
Big houses, a husband with an important job, great kids, fancy cars, and lots of money.
As each conversation developed it became clear that even with all the aforementioned advantages, there was something important that they had lost along the way.
They had lost their focus on their own personal values and passions.
The opportunity to meet all of these women became a big part of my desire to focus my work on women's wellness.
The more women I met, the more it made sense that when we take on the role of mother, caretaker, wife, or partner, it becomes easy to forget about the other parts of ourselves in favor of these seemingly more important roles.
Stepping into the roles of a wife, partner, mother, and working professional can put you in a new and unfamiliar stage in life.
Sometimes figuring out what values and passions are important to you as your own person while sorting out your new roles with families and career can feel as crazy as being out to sea at night in the middle of a storm.
Every day you're being bombarded with ideas, suggestions and guidance from outside sources concerning the direction of your life and what should be a priority in it.
After a while survival becomes the most important strategy, so we put our own dreams and hopes aside and focus on everyone else's needs.
Before we know it we have made the decision to let go of important parts of ourselves and watch them drift away.
Without fail I get a message from one or more of these forgotten parts of the women I serve in my office.
The adventurer, the scientist, the romantic, the student, the comedian, or the inventor wants to come back.
The mother, author, pilot, musician, actor, lawyer, administrator, and leader have never truly left you - they have just been waiting for you to allow them to come forward and do their thing.
Winter is a great time to ask yourself this questions: o"What joys and passions have I allowed to be smothered under the weight of the needs of others?" o"Before I had all these responsibilities, what were my dreams and hopes for myself?" o"If time and money were no issue how would I create my life to be different than it is now? It's never too late to reach out and pull all these distant pats of yourself back and give them another look.
Maybe you're a different person now and don't have a passion for playing the guitar anymore.
Fine - then let it go for good.
But if you find that your heart skips a beat when you allow yourself to think about playing again, Go For It! Not only is it okay to give yourself permission to live out the activities that bring you joy, it is essential.
Our individual values and passions are a gift to all of us.
They are a big part of what makes us unique and at the same time what brings us together in a common bond.
We walk this earth as individual spirits that belong to a larger group called humanity.
The one thing that we are all here to do is to share our unique ideas, views, perspectives, understandings, and skills with the people around us, and to receive the gifts of others.
Our passions act as the vehicle through which we touch people's lives.
The writer in you speaks to people who read the types of magazines you love to read.
The lawyer in you speaks to the people who have the issues you like to work with.
The chef in you speaks to the people who like to eat the food you like to cook.
If you have let go of your joy for cooking then the people you were meant to support miss out on your special and unique service.
Will you be Bold enough to be honest out loud about the dreams and passions you have for your life? Will you be Brave enough to consciously let your passions and gifts shine? Will you be Brilliant enough to lovingly show the people around you how we all benefit when you prioritize your own joy at the same level as ours? I dare you to try!