Clarity comes from engagement, not thought.

“Clarity comes from engagement, not thought.” ~ Marie Forleo

This is a quote I hung onto through my “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my life!” phase.

I was in my 8th year as a sales rep and continued to get the feeling that I wasn’t meant to be there anymore. What’s interesting was that I was great at my job and enjoyed most parts of it, especially my customers! It was so much fun to work with coaches and business owners to design looks that they were proud to wear and get to know the humans along the way!

So what do I do about this feeling? The one telling me it wasn’t right anymore. Do I ignore it and keep doing what I’m good at, hoping it subsides? I tried that and did it pretty successfully for a good while. But it just kept coming back and coming back until I could no longer ignore it.

The problem was that even though it was loud and clear that I wasn’t supposed to be there anymore, it was absolutely 100% NOT loud and clear what it was that I was supposed to be doing! So started the “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with my life, but I know this isn’t it” phase. Boy is it a fun one!

Do you ever come across those people who have such a fire in their soul that you can immediately feel the heat of their presence? It’s like you can tell that they are doing their work with so much more passion and purpose than most of the world. Their joy is contagious. I have. And I wanted that.

So I thought and thought and prayed and thought some more. Hey God!! Why aren’t you telling me what the hell you want me to do with my life, huh?

Instead, he told me this: Clarity comes from engagement, not thought.

So I decided to engage myself in things that I found interesting or brought me happiness.

I took a weekend course at Fort Hays in massage therapy thinking maybe I wanted to be a massage therapist. I liked it. I could do it. But that wasn’t it. I started cleaning a local business and thought maybe I wanted to start a cleaning business. Though I still clean the one business because I enjoy the peace and quiet it provides a couple of times a week, that wasn’t it either. I bartended. I became a Beachbody coach. I considered selling insurance. I worked part-time at an electric company. I hosted a Financial Peace University class at the church. I even grew a couple of humans!

When I felt like life was going nowhere, I considered therapy or hiring a coach. I chose the latter and in our first session I told her, “Mildred! I need to figure out what I want to do with my life and make money at it!”

Turns out what I really needed was to figure out WHO I WAS, what I stood for and how I could make the most of the gifts I’ve been given to benefit myself and everyone around me! I wanted to create the meaningful life that I KNEW I was created to live! Full of happiness, laughter and love!

So I engaged in things that made me happy! I found a lot more things that weren’t right before I found just the right thing! I love people. I love deep conversations and challenging others. I loathe small talk. I love picking apart situations and challenges to see them from different perspectives. I love seeing the light in others when they realize they are capable of creating the life the wish to live. Turns out I can totally do all of those things through coaching and the impact is unmeasurable.

So if you find yourself stuck in the “What the hell am I supposed to do with my life” phase. I get it! I spent a lot of time there too! Remember, clarity comes from engagement, not thought.

Engage in the things that bring you joy or just feel happy - even if it’s in just the smallest way.

Connect with me to move past the thinking and start engaging!