What did you enjoy doing as a kid? What did you want to be when you grew up?
Oh how I loathe these questions. If you’ve allegedly reached whatever “grown up” is and still can’t quite nail “what to be”, these are the go-to questions. I often wonder if I’m the only one who has no great recollection of what I wanted to be or thought “can you be a professional person who plays at the beach all day but can’t pay attention long enough to be a lifeguard?”
I started my very first post here with this: You were made for something that matters.
I know it more today than I did then. We were all made for something that matters. I still envy people who know what that “something” is. I still wonder if I ever will. I still ask unrelenting questions. I still constantly doubt my choices. I still want to do big important things but often have trouble doing little things.
Fast forward, and a few things have changed since that first post that give me hope for all of us who want to find what we’re here for and live a simple life.
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I let go of passion.
I think Liz Gilbert was the first person I heard talk about the idea that maybe we don’t all have a singular passion (or we don’t use “passion” language) so we’re exhausted and discouraged by all the talk about following your passion. A thousand times yes! And yet, what we all have is curiosity. What if we let go of this whole passion thing and instead followed our curiosity? This is where it gets interesting.
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I let go of A LOT of stuff.
First, I let go of a lot of physical stuff like clothes and clutter. Our internal lives can mirror our external lives, so clearing external clutter is a good first step. Letting go of physical things I thought I couldn’t live without made me wonder what other things I could live without – things like a steady job, or everyone’s approval or having my phone with me all the time. Could I examine what was cluttering my internal world so I could have more time and energy to explore my curiosities? Turns out the answer was a resounding yes.
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I let go of my fear of a crooked path.
This is a big one. If you don’t have a singular passion (or maybe even if you do), you’ve likely had a crooked path. You tried something and it didn’t work. Or maybe it worked, but then that path led you to another path. Some of us need the time and space to experiment and to learn and to change course. That’s not failure, that’s growth. That’s how it works. Mark Twain wrote Tom Sawyer, his first known piece, at 41.
Choosing the crooked path of curiosity
In the time since I started writing here, I’ve fallen in love with the community of people striving to live more simple, thoughtful, integrated lives.
And yet, there’s a curiosity I haven’t followed. Until now. Originally, I had dreams of writing more about two of my lifelong obsessions – nutrition and fitness. I didn’t follow that curiosity because I was listening to all the voices that said, “That world is too crowded. It’s all already been said”, but as I’ve explored how simple living and the way we treat our bodies are so intricately connected, it’s time to let the path get a little crooked.
I will continue to post here, but I’ve designed a new place where I’ll be covering nutrition, fitness, and all the ways our bodies and souls are connected. I would be honored if you checked it out and joined the conversation. Come on over!