Do you ever have the feeling that your life’s purpose is out there but you just haven’t found it yet? I had an ongoing battle with myself over the past year that it was time for a very big change…a change in how I was spending my time, how much attention I was paying to my own life and if I was fulfilling my ever elusive “life’s purpose”. Maybe it is a mid-life crisis, I don’t know. But it was obvious to me that I absolutely, without-a-doubt must make a bold change in 2014. I was being pulled.
I began 25 years ago doing what many college-bound students did: tried to form a plan for my education, for a job, for my life. I obtained internships. I took random jobs to see what I would enjoy. I met with school counselors. Asked my parents and their friends. How many times were we all asked the questions in college, “What’s your major? What do you want to do with it?” and my personal favorite: “Where do you see yourself in five years?” My 20-year-old self screamed “Seriously? I have no idea!!!! In five years, I hope to be able to pay my bills. In five years, I hope I can go to Target and buy whatever I want. In five years, I want to go on a vacation to Mexico. In five years, I hope I have an answer to the question ‘where do I see myself in five years?’.”
So, I just kept moving onward and upwards and built over time, what I think, was a pretty outstanding career in the world of retail and restaurant marketing. However, I was starting to be pulled to really answer the five-year question. Just a nagging feeling of what’s next and what if.
Last month, I made the scariest, boldest, most exciting career and life move I have ever made. I left the comfort of the big company and started my own business. Yep, the free-spirited title of an entrepreneur! And I really tried to talk myself out of it. What did the world think I should do next?. Every option or idea that I considered as my next move seemed too small, not fulfilling, not right, not fun but certainly would be approved and revered by others. However, none of it could I envision for myself or what I needed as I roll through my 40’s. I absolutely had to do this right now. As I spent an amazing holiday season with close friends and family, I made up my mind.
Remember what Rosa Parks said: “Once you decide, you’re not afraid anymore”. Well, once I decided, I wasn’t scared. I was so excited! And the wheels started turning fast. Next thing I knew, I was saying goodbye to the work family I had seen change and grow at my big company and was saying hello to my small group of talented, hard-working, creative and passionate team members. Here we go!
Our company opened for business less than two weeks ago. Every day is something new. I went from only thinking about new ways to drive sales through marketing and new product development to now processing payroll and setting up health benefits, running a business. How invigorating! Yes, I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about my new mission, but I love being totally alive and paying attention to every day. Thinking about what we will create next, what new clients we will surprise with our work, what benefits my children will get from seeing me following my purpose…all the benefits of doing your own thing.
And that may be the answer to the dreaded five-year plan question. Maybe the answer is not in five years, but in doing my thing and following my purpose each and every day.
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