Pursuing Passions and Dreams
There are days when pursuing the dream or passion comes easily. Inspiration is tangible and motivation is high. There are days, sometimes weeks when those aren’t the feels. The dream and passion are still there, but inspiration is fleeting, and motivation is nowhere to be found.
On days like these, I realize how much of this pursuit (whatever that is for you) is a blend of passion and discipline. I realize whatever dream or passion I have, it’s not just for the spur-of-the-moment whim, but it needs to be cultivated and groomed.
Last month I spent time celebrating wonderful women at our Gut Health Wellness (re)Treat. While I spent time with them, I could feel my heart bursting as I watched these women who had given their time to share and spend with us at this special event. You could see the barriers being torn down throughout the weekend. You could feel that they were there because they craved connection, peace of mind, to feel good in their gut, and to feel they had someone who had a voice for them.
As I look back at that weekend, it makes me wonder how many nights they didn’t feel there was a way to help their gut heal. How many nights did they just wanted to call it quits and give up on the dream of feeling better? How many times did they reconsider this path? I’m sure every thought under the sun happened but they gifted themselves the ability to have an end goal and they had discipline for themselves and their health.
As you may or may not know, Yoga and Wellness (re)Treats are two big passions of mine and in 2019 I ventured out of the corporate world to become a full time Yoga Teacher. This led me to start hosting Wellness (re)Treats in 2021 and, as I soon discovered, wasn’t for the faint of heart. This journey was the first extensive commitment I’d made since I fell into bookkeeping and became an accountant. That time in my life was of building and investing in myself and those I shared my passions with. It was eye-opening because I learned something about dreams and passion.
I learned that it isn’t always unicorns and glitter. I learned that there will be nights when you want to throw in the towel and call it quits. I remember so distinctly spending hours to build a name for myself and sometimes just being completely over it. There were moments when I cried. It wasn’t always pretty or easy. It was scary because of how risky and vulnerable I had become.
But in that process, I learned that inspiration is what you make it. That sometimes inspiration comes when you decide to keep doing the thing you love despite how you may feel. I learned that with passion must come discipline. Passion without discipline can be thoughtless and disorderly.
Don’t get me wrong, passion is beautiful and something that can consume us and birth ingenious ideas. Passion should never be watered down, but there is something sustaining when passion meets discipline and from that union the very thing stirring within you has a space it can unfold in.
I want to encourage you to not despise the seemingly low days of your dreams and passion pursuits. This month, it may be hard to find joy in the little things. I know for me it hasn’t been the easiest thing. It’s been a sacrifice. But I truly believe, there’s joy to be found in this space.
Instead of grumbling about the lack of inspiration and motivation, I ask you to persevere. Discover what discipline with your passion looks like for you in this season. Get practical and show up regardless of how you feel and give yourself grace. We are all in different seasons and phases of our dreams and passion pursuits. And those seasons are wrapped in the mundaneness of our daily lives. This revelation can be daunting, but I feel there is some value underneath it. There is value to be found exactly where we are.