Ever since I could remember, I’ve had a purpose to my life, but I didn’t honor it. It’s one thing to have a purpose and think and say what you want from your life, but it’s a whole other ballgame when we honor it.

When we honor the purpose of our lives, we have to actually share it with others. That’s honoring our purpose. If artists keep their art to themselves, is that honoring their purpose? No. How could it be? Even if an artist is fulfilled making the art, the purpose is to share what they create so that others may experience the essence of their creations.

It’s Never Too Late to Share Our Purpose.

I watched a recent episode of America’s Got Talent, and there was a group of four 60-something male dancers. They were together for over 40 years and had last danced together at one of the guy’s weddings in the 1980s. When they moved, I smiled. The performance even made Simon Cowell smile, and the guys looked happy sharing their purposes.

Watching those guys dance gave me the idea for this post. We all have talents. We’re meant to share them to inspire, help, bring on a smile, show love, or give someone a break from the doldrums of the day.

Our Talents Need to Be Shared.

We were given these gifts for a reason. When the dancers were asked why they hadn’t danced in such a long time, they answered that they got married. In other words, life took over. Don’t we know that all too well? The guys had spent their lives on their careers outside of dancing. But was that their purpose? I don’t know. I only saw them dancing, and that seemed to be their purpose.

For me, I never gave up on my purpose, but I didn’t honor it as well as I could have. When we honor our purpose, we will do everything possible to achieve the goals we set. I haven’t been doing that. It appears that there are always other things to do, you know, adult things, that I put ahead of my true purpose. I want to be known for the things I create, not how my house was clean and well-organized. Don’t get me wrong, those things are important, but at what price? Those things don’t make me happy; they help me be comfortable.

Being Comfortable Isn’t the Same As Being Happy.

Honoring our purpose can make us happy. When we stray from our course and do things we feel are more necessary, it can lead to feelings of resentment and stress. It’s like when we take a job for the money and we can’t stand being there. We are off course, and our bodies and minds will let us know. We might have physical ailments like headaches or mental anguish that remind us what we truly want to be doing.

When we walk away from our purpose to do something that’s in our comfort zone that doesn’t threaten us in any way, it’s because we’re afraid.

What Gets Us Off Course?

Fear. We fear we don’t have enough money, so we take whatever job that comes our way. We fear we’re not good enough, so we fail to share our creations. We fear we are too old, too young, too this or that, and talk ourselves out of giving it a shot before we take any action.

To understand what we’re afraid of regarding our purpose, we need to identify what it is that we’re afraid of. We need a quiet space to dig deep to discover our fears. It can be tough to do. I know. I’ve done it. It’s not easy. I’m about 95% sure I know the real answer. That’s how hard it is to know what we truly fear.

But, see, fear keeps us from honoring our purpose. When we know the fear, we can deal with it. That means acknowledging it and processing it. And it can be scary. But it’s the only way to overcome our fears.

Fear keeps us stuck, too. When we tend to listen to others instead of ourselves and do what others want us to do or what we think others want us to do, we are living in fear. We fear rejection, so we often strive to please others at the expense of forgetting to honor ourselves.

Why Would We Do That?

I have a theory based on my experiences, and numerous personal growth experts share similar ideas.

We stop honoring our purpose when we turn away from ourselves. We give our power away when we give in to fear.

Think about this. When we were kids, our imaginations ran wild. There was nothing we couldn’t dream up or do. We felt invincible. We allowed ourselves to dream huge dreams and never thought to tone it down to “be more realistic.”

As we grew up and the world around us pushed its ideas onto us, all of a sudden, our dreams and our purpose were being scrutinized and challenged. It no longer felt safe to keep that dream alive, and we gave in to an “oh well, that’s life” attitude.

Then we turn to the comfort zone, where we can give up on our dreams, blaming it’s too much work. We can rationalize that we have a new purpose: to make others happy, rather than ourselves, because it’s easier to do so.

If you’re doing that, shut that train down immediately and screech the wheels to a complete stop. Then get off that train of thought and get tougher on yourself. We all have a purpose – we are alive for a reason.

I’ve said to my husband, “If I do this, then I don’t do that.” For me, that is the thing that I love to do, what brings me joy, and how I want to earn money.

If the “this” we do makes us feel unhappy and discontent, that’s our brains telling us we are misaligned with our purpose. Then we’ve got a situation that needs to be addressed. Seriously. This is why there are so many unhappy, miserable people. They’ve strayed so far from their purpose and lost sight of it. They gave up believing they could be happy.

What Is Your Purpose?

A father who cares about his children has a purpose that demonstrates love and helps develop a strong sense of self-worth in his offspring.

Sharing your funny stories with strangers is a purposeful way to help others laugh and relieve some stress.

The nurse who loves to help people has a purpose of healing.

You get the gist. We all have a purpose.

Thank you for reading this, and I hope I helped you discover your purpose. Once you realize it, do that each day. It’ll make life so much better.

To honoring our purpose,

Francesca