“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman
Following your passion and feeling alive can seem like a nice thought and rather naive, but I truly feel that it’s necessary for life. When we feel alive, we give off a powerful energy that is not only important for ourselves and our own well being but also benefits those around us- family, friends, co-workers, etc. This energy can be infectious and encourages others to come alive too.
It isn’t easy to pursue what makes us feel alive. Many of us feel trapped by circumstances and therefore make excuses for why we can’t do something. Therefore, doing what makes us feel alive seems like wishful thinking and hard for us to actually do.
It takes guts to make the choices needed to feel alive. To live a life you’ve dreamed of and to actually take the steps or perhaps leap of faith needed to get there. But I believe you have what it takes. It’s up to you to find your path and make it happen. It may be hard, but it’ll be worth it. Your journey is one of the most important gifts you can give yourself.
If you aren’t doing something you love and what you’re doing isn’t meaningful or making a positive difference, is it worth doing it?
Perhaps this is something you might want to ask yourself or explore further. You’ve got one chance at this life. Why not try to live it to the fullest while you’re here.
What are you doing today that makes you feel alive?
Here are some things that may be able to help you feel more alive:
Listen to the signals from the Universe!
The Universe is always sending you messages, but you must be open to receiving them. These signals can help you and open new doors for you. However, they may not be so obvious and in your face. They sometimes get drowned out by the noises around you. So you need to actively listen. Often these signals are telling you to take a risk, and if we’re feeling uncomfortable to do so, we ignore them. But next time, what if you listened and took that risk? Ask yourself what you could be doing more of or what it is you would like to do and see what happens and comes up for you.
Let go of “shoulds.”
“Should” messages are familiar to all of us. Our lives are saturated with societal norms of success, beauty, intellect, strength, femininity, masculinity, etc... We may not even realize how overwhelmed we are by shoulds. This is what I should be doing. This is how I should look. This is how it should look. This is how we should act. This is where I should be right now etc…
It’s time to let those pressures and expectations go. Shoulds cripple our creativity and our energy. They make us feel disappointed in ourselves and often rob us of precious time exploring what really matters. What if we stopped doing what was expected and started doing the unexpected to help us live our life more fully? Imagine that.
Remember that you are worth it!
The struggle to feel alive is worth it. You have one life and it is up to you to live it. Pursuing what makes us feel alive often gets wrongly labeled as being self-centered. However, it’s anything but! Taking time to do things that make you feel alive, happy, and enjoy your life is important. Think about the people who’ve inspired you the most. Are they self-centered? Rarely. Are they doing things that make them feel alive? Most definitely. They have not followed the same beaten path to get them there so why should you? Take the risk, you are worth it.
