The Secret Sauce: How to find your Lust for Life
Image: Jodie Hill teaching yoga in Minca, Colombia.
Introduction
Without purpose, life can feel empty. At some point past early adulthood we might feel this void but we don’t know quite what to do about it. And with a constant flood of external stimuli and instant gratification in the modern world, it’s easy to become distracted and ignore that voice within. Until for some of us, we can’t ignore it anymore. We lose our spark, and begin the journey to find it again. I believe they call it: ‘soul searching’.
Losing My Spark
I spent my early to mid twenties working in corporate finance. At first, I was proud of being this financially independent ‘girl boss’ who was going to make a difference. However, I started to feel like my imposter syndrome was never going to go away no matter how much I pushed myself to fit the mould of a confident and driven corporate banker. There was an inherent disconnect between my biggest strengths and the attributes of a successful banker. As this realisation started setting in, and the demands of corporate life began to weigh on my mental health, I turned to yoga and meditation to manage stress and bring a sense of relief to my busy weeks. At first, yoga was a just a powerful tool I had found for my mental health. But after some time, there was a feeling in my gut telling me that I needed to become a yoga teacher. I felt like I had finally found a career path which was perfectly aligned with my personal strengths and would give me the opportunity to help others manage stress. After lots of panic and doubt, I listened to my gut.
The Soul Search Begins
Being completely transparent, it wasn’t until I achieved a specific financial milestone that I felt safe enough to take drastic action, but I did it. I quit the job which wasn’t right for me to become a yoga teacher and travel the world. Teaching yoga seemed to combine my biggest passions I had since I was in school; philosophy, psychology and health. Not to mention that people had been telling me my whole life how calming and empathetic I was. I thought to myself: “Finally, a career that actually aligns with who I really am. No more pretending to be someone I’m not.”
The months that followed were at once incredibly liberating and overwhelming. I was questioning everything in my life to figure out what I really wanted. I was thinking a lot, crying, laughing and doing things I had never done before. I would go from making some of the best memories of my life to feeling completely drained and overwhelmed. I’ve never known anyone personally to quit their job and start a business, and I had to remind myself a hundred times over that what is meant for me will come to me. I had to have faith in myself to overcome any challenges that may arise in my future.
Finding Meaning In Life: Pick Your Struggle
What makes life meaningful is for each person to decide for themselves. If you are still working it out, pay attention to the messages in your dreams, moments of gut feeling, patterns in your journalling or therapy sessions, themes that come up during walks in nature or meditiation. What do you want to spend your precious energy on? What attributes do people say you have and what could they be used for? Who do you most admire throughout history and what were their core values? The next step is to stop listening and take action, which can be scary. If you have the opportunity, take baby steps towards a life which is aligned to your values. The transition will not be easy but the idea is that the struggle will be worth it in the end. Do what feels right, and trust that the future will always take care of itself.
Becoming Selflessly Selfish
If you are often taking care of others and not yourself: remember that by living a life we truly value, we are less likely to put pressure on our children or loved ones to live up to the expectations we had for ourselves. So really, it’s kind of equally selfish and selfless. That said, we are all going through life for the first time (aided by ancient wisdom, of course) and many of us have children and responsibilities to think about in the process. Nonetheless, we all deserve to feed our own soul and I hope you find the secret sauce.
