Finding My Purpose… My “What Next”
In my personal experience, our purpose is inside of us always wanting to be lived. It can be found by noticing what lights us up in our everyday lives. But perhaps, no matter how many times it shows itself, we may not realize what it is, or listen to it.
In healthy and unhealthy ways, I have always wanted to and tried to help people. Giving advice that was not asked for, or not ready to be heard. Giving oils and offering health advice to those who I felt “needed” it. “Drink more water, workout, and don’t eat crap” were things my friends and family got sick of me saying to them. I thought I was helping my friends by pushing them to do what they said they wanted to do. Throughout my life, just by my presence and not my words, I have inspired others to do better, be better, and expect better from themselves.
In my early 20’s I read the timeless self-help book What Color is Your Parachute – after taking the “test” I believe it suggested 5 careers. The two that I felt drawn to were Therapist and Police Officer. How in the world could I do or be either of those? Therapist would be listening to people go on and on about their problems week after week. Police Officer, how was that even a good idea? I left those there and kept taking jobs because they had good healthcare or good pay, not because I loved the actual job.
My job history even showed me signs of what I love to do. My first job, while in high school, was at The Pottery Barn. Customer Service and helping people was what I loved to do. During my 11+ year career at Clopay Building Products, in my 20s, my favorite position was as a Customer Service person taking calls from people trying to install their own garage doors. Listening to what they were experiencing, walking with people through their frustrations with the installation, the directions. Finding the solutions gave me so much joy.
Self-improvement has always been my way – seeking to improve myself in any way I felt called to reading books, going to seminars, listening to tapes, CD’s and podcasts.
When I started working with my coach, Sue, I was running the family car business. It was fun, stressful, rewarding and somedays destroyed my sense of self. I was not living my purpose. Early on the thought of leaving the family business came up but HOW IN THE WORLD could I do that? I dismissed it completely.
But, it came to its own fruition over time. COVID was the perfect storm to show me the way. Car prices skyrocketed as the chip shortage happened. At the end of 2020, I stopped buying cars, knowing that it was not sensible to overleverage us just to stay in the game. The price of parts to get a vehicle ready to sell went up 150% due to supply issues. I decided to slowly scale out of the business. This decision made space for my “What Next.”
Over the past 3 years, the transition in the car business has been slowly making space for me to live my purpose. As I started to allow the possibilities of what was next to flow through me, the answer came “be a life coach.” (I cannot take full credit for this, my friend Marla and a few other people have said “you should be a life coach”) Does it always happen this way for people? I am not sure, but I believe that if we actually listen to what is calling us and overrule all of the excuses and the things we think will stop us from doing it, we can live our purpose.