New Purpose For Living – The Journey of Words
In fact, there is a song by the group called Train called Words.
A portion of the lyrics read:
Words they’ll try to shake you Don’t let them break you or stop your world from turning When words keep you from feeling good Use them as firewood and let them burn . Read more: TRAIN – WORDS LYRICS
I had poured myself into being a stellar employee after our son graduated high school. I was prepped and ready for the day when he would leave to go off to college. I was ready to work, work, and work in order to keep my mind busy. Actually, I was read to work to pay the college bills.
And we did. We escaped college debt free.
But, when he graduated I really had to reassess myself, my reason for working so hard and came up short. While we did succeed in the goal of debt free college years (also thanks to my parents that also helped with his living expenses) I realized I needed a new purpose. I had a wake up call. I became clearly aware of where I was and that reason for the long work hours was over. I really just didn’t want to be come a workaholic for tangible items. I needed to truly discover what made me tick, find a new purpose for my life, and define the root of my passions. I wanted my life from this point on to be meaningful to me.
So I embarked on a journey.
It was a journey of words.
The first stage of the journey was an assessment of my life at that moment of realization. I took out my notebook and started writing down the answers to the questions I read from a book:
- What was my life LIKE yesterday?
- How did I FEEL when I woke up this morning?
- What do I want MOST out of my life?
- What DRIVES me?
- Picture my life ninety days from today. How would I like to feel? What would I like to accomplish?
- What tasks am I spending time and energy on that don’t contribute to what I want most out of my life? What would happen if I stopped giving those tasks my full attention?
- What would bring me TRUE happiness and more meaning?
I answered those questions and used the words on the pages as firewood to spark an ember to fuel new passions now that the kiddo had flown the coop.
I ask you the same questions.
Your answers to these questions will help you to discover where you are now. Allow the words that you write on the paper to spark your internal embers that can be used to fuel your new passions and help you find new purpose. Allow these questions to awaken your soul. By clearly writing out where you are now you are empowered to be able to map out a plan of where you want to be.
“A map not drawn is a treasure not found”
5 Comments
Te
This is a great idea. I’m facing redundancy if I’m unsuccessful in reapplying for my current position. I really need to do this so I can figure out what it is I want to do with my life.
Cassie
Lovely post, Kim! Journalling can be so powerful. Even though I blog for my music studio, it’s been a while when I’ve just written for myself in my journal. Thank you for the reminder and for the powerful map image. Have a wonderful day!
Kim
Thank you so much Cassie for taking the time to read. I have found my greatest personal breakthroughs come when I journal. In fact, one of my ways to journal is to wake up first thing in the morning and grab my journal and start writing. It is amazing, over a course of time, what the early morning journaling does to help give me direction. Maybe it’s because the sleepy brain is at it’s most truthful! Music studio! FUN! I love to sing, play the piano and am going to work on learning the guitar this year as one of my 2013 goals! Blessings to you!
Kim
Te, thank you for taking the time to read my post. I highly suggest looking into yourself to find your true passions, purpose and direction. I HAVE BEEN where you are. Redundant living is exhausting. Keep following my posts and hopefully I can give you a few nuggets to help you on your journey =) Blessings to you!