What makes you tick? Moves you into action? Where do you find inspiration?

I heard a sermon once that when your passion meets with a need, it becomes a calling that can move mountains. But where do you start if you feel you’ve lost your passion or don’t know what you’re passionate about?

Can I talk to you like one of my friends?

I was an extremely driven young twenty-something, with energy and opportunities on my side. I went full-throttle into everything I did, without concern for what the outcomes might be. I had no one but myself to be responsible for, nothing to lose.

But something changed in my late twenties to mid thirties. Call it lack of sleep (could be, as our first daughter was up every hour and a half for years) or putting a few more badges of rejection or failure on the belt. Either way, I lost myself in motherhood and putting their needs first and building most of my social life and hobbies (what hobbies?) around them and the “mommy circle.” Don’t get me wrong- I LOVED these days filled with park play-dates, hanging with other moms while drinking coffee and comparing milestones and heartaches. Is my kid on track? How do you handle (fill in the blank)? I juggled motherhood with a full career in financial services (again, loved).

But.

But when the kids all went to school, I found myself looking around, wondering, now what? Where do you start looking for your soul when it becomes lost?

I’m not going to lie. I prayed. A lot. And read. A lot. One of the things I read was whatever you do that makes you lose track of time, forget to eat etc, is what you were meant to do. Your passion.

It took months, but I woke up one night after a great dream and began to write it down (which turned into a not-so-great manuscript, but that’s not the point). I found it! I loved to write. How had I forgotten that? And how had all my high school teachers recommended going to school for creative writing and I didn’t see it? I went for Psychology and Marketing because it was more popular. I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t dealt with enough failure or rejection yet (which believe me, early years in financial services will build that quickly).

We’re told God gifts us talents and they are different for every person and that by using them, it fills our soul and furthers His kingdom, making all things possible. It could be anything…public speaking, developing relationships, helping others, doing hair, etc.

It might take a prayer or three hundred, but you will find yourself. You will find that thing that makes you tick. The thing you loved as a child before society told you it wasn’t cool or didn’t pay enough. I was reminded of that the other day when a woman told me that writing books doesn’t pay much these days (a woman I’d met for the first time). I looked at her and smiled, and said, “I didn’t write this for the money. I wrote it to make a difference.” When you can say that with confidence, sky’s the limit and your heart will be full.