Mapping your life with purpose

Does your life have purpose? I know many empty nest moms come to “the end” of the mom journey with a huge let down. I can remember when our son left for college even though we had our “plans” on what we were going to do, it was still a big emotional hurdle to over come.  We had a small family in a small house, so when he wasn’t there it left a huge void.

You may be searching for new purpose in your life right now. Maybe you desire to do something – a blog or a business. Or, you feel like there’s ‘something more’ but you just don’t know what  is.

But, as I mentioned – we had a plan.  We had talked about the day and that it was inevitable that it was going to come.

And it did.

At first, I slid right into the plan which was for me to go to work full time to help offset college tuition.

And that was all fine and dandy until college was over!

NOW I faced a new dilemma.  Where do I shift my focus now that I don’t have to work like the dickens to make money for “the college tuition fund”?

I found myself really doing some soul searching, and I’m betting you have probably asked yourself the same question….

“What do I DO now that MOM isn’t my number one job?”

I answered that question by doing some reading on finding purpose.

What I ended up with was a list of words that represented “values”. You can see the long list (long short list) here.

When you find the values that mean the most to you, it only makes sense to start doing things daily that build on those values!  When you start doing that simple step, you start feeling as though you are living with more purpose.

My top 10 Values were Family, Faith, Creativity, Inspiration, Nature, Integrity, Leaving a legacy, Teaching, Solitude and Joy

Once I defined those values I quickly realized the things that I held dear in my heart were missing from my daily life!  It really came as a shock at first because in my mind if someone had asked me I would have said “SURE, I live my life every day according to my values”.

Taking stock of my core values made me realize one of the reasons I was probably feeling so stressed and as though my life had no purpose was that for the years while our son was away to college and then establishing his new family (he got married) I had not connected with my core values in a long time.  It was as if the busy-ness of life had squeezed out the values I held dear.  But, in reality it was because I had not clearly defined my values.  In essence, I had what I thought was my map of life, but the map had no directions on it!

You see choosing, defining and knowing your values can put you in touch with your purpose.

When you can live each day knowing you are living with purpose and have defined actions each day that build upon your core values, it can:

• Reduce daily stress
• Help you make better decisions
• Increase your joy, happiness and fulfillment
• Help you find people, groups, and  environments that support you
• Hep your personal growth and development
• Provide you with motivation!

Do you know what your core values are? Do you have them listed? Do you make daily evaluations to make sure you are living and acting on your core values?

Perhaps you can be on your journey soon to eliminating some conflict, frustration and lack of fulfillment in your empty nest by working on your core values!

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When she’s not sweeping dog hair, experimenting in the kitchen, or doodling on paper, Kim C. Steadman is writing. She is a self-proclaimed cubicle-nation escapee and now lives her childhood dreams. She is a freelance writer, speaker and ministers alongside her family in Grand Prairie, TX. She and her husband care-take acreage which includes woods, fields and critters all of which weave themselves into her writings.

She is the author of The Creative Prayer Journal: A 21-Day Prayer Challenge to Experiencing Meaningful Conversations With God, The Diary of a Recycled Dog and The Creative Keepsake Journal series.

She loves coffee, chocolate, and TexMex food. She also enjoys DIY projects that don’t include power saws & hiking in the mountains. Connect with her on Facebook at KimSteadmanDesigns