Do What You Love

Greetings love!

I'm just back home after a week of doing 4 speaking gigs in 3 cities, and spending time with my sister, and I am riding high!

This is what happens when you do what you love! You feel energized. Your blood dances in your skin. You can't wait to do more. You feel free and fabulous and like you're floating on top of the world!

That's what I want for you. Your SPARK for this week: Do what you love.

I know – I'm making it sound easier than it is. I get it. You have responsibilities….a mortgage to pay, and mouths to feed. You can't just take off on a one-way flight to Dreamland.

Or can you? What if you could do what you love and make as much or more than you make now? What if you could show your kids that creating a unique life and following dreams is possible?

And I get it. You're afraid. You think you can't be successful at what you love. Or that dreams are for other people.

Are they? Why not you? What if you become a huge success at what you love? What if you are sitting WITH Oprah on stage instead of thinking the stage isn't for you? (Ok, that's my dream ;))

And I know – you don't know what you love. I get that too. And I believe that you do know. Your brain has just covered it up with all these fears and other people's expectations. Like my client Amanda* who had always wanted to be a nurse, but was told by her loving and practical parents that she should go into IT. So she did and 15 years later, she's still miserable. She came to me “not knowing” what she loved, but we discovered the dream buried below. Or my client, Melissa* who also didn't know what she would love, so, layer by layer, we uncovered her joy, what lights her up and would give her meaningful fulfillment. They are both now on their paths.

If them, why not you?

Every day, there are millions of people doing what they love and therefore, loving life. And there are millions of more people stuck in their own fear, telling themselves why they “can't” instead of asking themselves, “How can I?” Which one do you want to be – doing what you love or staying stuck in fear?

I held myself back for 8 years because I was too afraid to be a big, fat, failure who ended up jobless, homeless, and dateless. I thought no one would want to read what I wanted to write. No one would want to hear what I had to say. And here you are, reading. If I had known then what I know now – that I would speak at companies like Progressive, I'd be on national radio, be planning a retreat to Miami, and inspiring women at Jewish Federation, an organization I adore – all while making more money than I did in my old job, I would have taken this leap a decade earlier.

I could have had a decade more of Joy. And frankly, I've learned that when you follow your JOY, the Universe gives you more joy. Positivity begets positivity, so more opportunities come.

It hasn't always been an easy path. Taking a leap toward purpose, creating a business, and making it sustainable, took effort. And, it's been worth every moment.

So this week, commit to doing what you love. At least take one first step. Write down your commitment and begin thinking “How can I?”

With so much love,
Carin