As the tears flooded from my eyes and snot starting dripping from my nose – not one of the hundreds of attendees handed me a tissue? Thinking back to Entrepreneurs at RACV Royal Pines in 2013, the facilitator was answering my desperate question “How do I know what my purpose is?”
You could have heard a pin drop, so many wished they had the guts to stand up and be coached in front of the group but too many have seen the vulnerability it takes – or perhaps courage to seize opportunities like these.
It was explained to me then and is so clear to me now that your purpose finds you. It is never for us to worry as we can never be off track or missing it. In fact, the advice that made me cry was to think of the person who loved me the most – Kent my husband, as the facilitator had me picture how much Kent loved me, he encouraged to tap into that love and challenged me as to why I didn’t love myself that much. My homework assignment was then and continues to be today to love myself.
It seemed like a simple enough assignment to learn how to love myself as much as my husband loves me, however I had found it quite tricky. You see I am with me all of the time! It was me who dropped her brand new iPhone and cracked the screen, received a speeding fine and ran out of milk all in the same week. It was me that got Harry sunburnt, forgot to transfer the insurance money into the right account and left the washing on the line overnight.
You see, it appears I am human.
This holiday I re-read a favourite book Personality Plus and read for the first time how we are all parts of one body. Kent would be the mind (melancholy are super smart and notice everything not right) and the hands (phlegmatic – good at soothing and handling people gently with humour) where as I am the feet (great at taking action fast) and the mouth (excellent at talking for days on end and creating a social network).
It helped me to see our kids are all combos of us and together we create unity. As I think back to those tears, perhaps it was because I was yet to have my kids and I can now appreciate that in learning daily to love unconditionally, I can apply some of the ways to overlook stuff in my kids to myself.
My purpose is simply to be the best me I can be. Be present and be a leading learner. I have grown in character and GRIT as I have built a solid business, however nothing compares to the challenge of learning to love myself through the up and down of life. I encourage you to stop today and do something for you to show yourself that you loved and then choose one person to tell that you love – your mum or dad perhaps, your sister or brother or a child what better purpose can you think to focus on today?