Have you experienced hitting a brick wall in your life? You are going, going going, something happens and all of a sudden, boom! You can’t go any further. I have and in doing so, I began a quest for finding my true passion in life. Passion comes often out of suffering. Christ is our example of passion in suffering. He was passionate in His love for us as He suffered. For me, I knew I wanted to find a way out of the suffering of depression. It has been an intense two and half year journey, full of ups and downs that has led me to better health and hope. It has become my passion to support other women who are looking for hope and healing
How do you go about discovering your own passions and possibilities, especially as an overwhelmed Christian woman? First, you will need to decide where you are in the urgency and importance scale. How important is it to you to reduce stress in your life? How hurried and exhausted are you? What and when would you like to change to bring more hope and health to you life?
Discover your own values and strengths
One place to start is to make apparent to yourself your own values and strengths. Often times we are not aware of what is so common to ourselves. We do some things easily all the time, but making it apparent to ourselves helps us capitalize on our strengths. The University of Pennsylvania does research on happiness and has questionnaires to explore. I would recommend the VIA Survey of Character Strengths questionnaire which focuses on strengths. This gives you a beginning point for your strengths. After taking the questionnaire, ask yourself…. “Am I in a place where I get to use my strengths on a daily basis? If not, what would it take to do so?”
Another useful resource for strengths is a book by Tom Rath, Strengths finder 2.0. This book, with its online questionnaire delineates 34 strengths and presents you with a profile of your top 5 strengths. It provides insight into where you operate best. This works for home as well as in the workplace. For example, one of my strengths as developer, “recognizes and cultivates the potential in others. They spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from these improvements”. I also rate high in empathy. Both of these strengths help me be the best coach I can be in serving overwhelmed women who are looking for hope and healing.
Think about what you loved to do as a child
Another clue to your passions are interests you had as a child. What were your favorite things to do when you were 10-12 years old? What clues do they give you about your passions to explore? I remember wanting to be a teacher when I was in junior high. Another thing I remember is my love of being with friends and learning about Jesus. I had my mom take me to every Vacation Bible School I could find! I know part of it was being with friends, but even then God was instilling a great love for Him in my heart. What about you? What does looking back tell you about moving forward to the life God is calling you to?
Find time to try something
What is calling to you in the back of your mind? What are you dreaming about that you would do if you only had time? Now is the time to feed your passion, listen to God and take a step towards that which He has made you. Get up a little earlier, stay up a little later, turn off the TV, give yourself permission for 30 minutes of time for yourself to feed your soul and listen to the passion that God has placed in your heart.
Will this journey be easy? No. Will it be worth it? Absolutely. He hears us when we call to Him. In Psalms 66: 19, But surely God has heard me; He has paid attention to the urgency of my request. I would love to be a part of your journey to discover your passions and dreams. You can contact me at nancy@livefullylifecoaching.com and we can explore spiritual direction together to discover what God-sized dreams cab move you forward toward your passions and dreams.
Check out the resources on my website at nancyboothcoaching and contact me for an introductory session. Also post your comments below or on nancyboothcoaching facebook. Don’t let your overwhelm continue to grow. There is hope and healing available and starting your quest for your passion may be part of the journey!
Nancy Booth is a certified life coach and certified brain-based coach. She loves creating safe spaces for women going through life’s transitions to discover and support their visions for health and well-being in an overwhelming world, explore possibilities for next steps and find hope. She writes about taming the overwhelm and reducing stress, looking for ways to motivate, energize and inspire you! You can sign up to receive her weekly blog or contact her to find out ways you can begin to shed overwhelm and stress. It’s time to explore possibilities of new relationships, better life pacing and gain hope and peace.