Do you have longings for gifts and talents you think you don’t have? Do you daydream about doing things that you think you’ll never do? Do you have longings for gifts and talents you think you don’t have? Do you have some idea of what you would do if you won the lottery or had enough money to retire? Hold those thoughts.
Longings are essential windows into who we are and were meant to be. Indulge in them, explore their edges and depths. And find ways to feed them.
I’m not a quit your job and find your bliss advocate. In my observation, the idea that we can all do the exact thing that is our most profound passion and longing as a full-time occupation is not respectful of the facts of this life. We live in a culture that demands we have an income to pay for basic life needs; food, a roof over our head, health care etc., etc. We have families to support and bills to pay. If you have a trust fund – lucky you. Very few of us are in that category.
But we can make room to nurture our longings and spend some time each week – even an hour – feeding them.
For instance, my passion is playing with color. And constructing three-dimensional artworks. I was also born in a lower-middle-class family, put myself through college, and had my first child at 24. I have to work. So I do what I can to feed that love. I probably would have been able to make it a full-time career if I was willing to be a starving artist for ten or twenty years first, but I was not. I can be sad about the art career I never had. But this is my life, and I am grateful I’ve been able to do what I have done and raise three wonderful kids, funded by my day job.
To put pressure on someone to turn their passion immediately into a successful income seems to me to come from a position of entitlement. I don’t encourage that. If you want to do that, you can do it, but it will take time – nothing happens without extra work and sacrifices.
If your day job is not aligned with your values, then, by all means, find one that is. But it may not be aligned with your deepest longings or passion. That’s ok; your work is still sacred.
Instead, cherish your longings. Please don’t be ashamed or embarrassed by them. Don’t feel defeated because you may never fully achieve them. They are who you authentically are, and you deserve to manifest them in the way you can. Little by little, day by day is a practice for manifesting your longings. I’m an early morning person. That quiet hour before the day begins is my time alone, the time when I can do what I want to do.
Write down your three deepest longings. Spend time with them. Define them. Then see if you can find time to nurture them within the demands of your real life and finances—little by little, day by day.
Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash
