Comfort, the dream killer.

You can be comfortable or courageous, but not both at once.  

Wow, that's a serious statement.  Simple and dead-on, its a message that I've been pondering for awhile now.

There is no doubt that I've lived much of my life in the "comfortable" zone.  Given all the upheaval in my life this last year, I've taken a huge stride to the courageous path and I like to think these days I'm being "practically" courageous.  I keep joking with my friends and family that I have a countdown (7.5 years to be exact!)  And its not a joke so much as a deadline for me to make the full leap to courageous.  Short term, I am working to ensure I've got a base for each of my kids to be able to successfully leave the nest.   And if I haven't found the job that is my passion by Bella's high school graduation?  I will start to ACTIVELY chase job passion!  In the meantime, I'm using this time period till Bella graduates to flush out what my passion(s) really are.  

I think one of the things that hold so many of us back from pursuing our passion is that we feel we must be a genius at said thing to want to jump off the comfort ship to pursue it.  And frankly, there are very few of us that are genius at anything.  Its taken me a good while to get past this "perfection" misconception.  Nowadays, I'm much  more apt to think in terms of Thomas Edison's famous quote: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety nine percent perspiration".  Sweating and hard work?  These things have never put me off.  In fact they are often indicative of the kind of environment I thrive in, full-bore and constantly stimulating!

The other part of this puzzle is finding "the thing" I'm passionate about.  I recognize there may actually be many things that fit this bill and I don't have to limit myself to just 1.  I think there are clues to determining our passions in every moment if we are willing to take the time to look.  I'm working to figure out what things I do every day that bring me joy.  I know I've hit on a passion when I can work on something for hours and not realize I've just spent a whole day doing it??  Things like planning a girl scout event (teaching) or trying a new skill (learning) are things I relish.  I also definitely have a passion for creating things with my hands.  I recognize that I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in how I've spent my time when there is a tangible product at the end.  I keep these "joy nuggets" in a list on my phone and I add to it real-time.  I also take time to review this list and brainstorm how I can meld some/all of these "joy nuggets" into my ideal job.  Note, this is best done at 6am while drinking freshly brewed coffee!

I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to end up as a house flipper who owns a coffee shop that doubles as a starving artist's studio?  I'll keep you posted ;o)