Written by Lisa Chestnut, Author & Digital Designer
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise
Did you know that you have a purpose for your life? Not some grandiose, take the world by storm kind of thing that famous authors and talk show hosts claim as their road to riches. Not that fulfilling their purpose didn’t lead them to their riches. That’s not for me to say. Pursuing your purpose should never be about the riches but learning about yourself and how you can serve others. But viewing the topic of purpose through the eyes of the famous leaves the rest of us thinking that can never happen for me or having a purpose is for those “special” people.
I know I did. I thought only certain people had a purpose or calling for their lives that ultimately change the world in a really big way. That is until a few years ago when after 30 years of raising children, my own three and my grandson, I knew there had to be something next, something more for my life. I went on my own quest to find my purpose, that one thing that I was destined to do.
Guess what? I found it but only after looking deep inside at my present as well as my past, my life’s journey. You can find yours too.
First, let’s examine what is purpose? Your purpose is something that you and only you are assigned to do, not for yourself but for others. Of course, others have a similar purpose, but each of you will go about it in a much different way. This is because of your different views of the world and different beliefs based on what you have been exposed to during your lifetime. Make no mistake. You do have a purpose, we all do.
In fact, I believe that during our lifetime, we will have more than one at different stages of our lives. Think about it for a minute, during your life what is the one thing you did so well for others without really thinking about it?
Was it your great ability to put people at ease when they were going through some kind of grief or loss?
Were you able to come up with solutions in an area that others you know seem to falter?
Or have you simply been an attentive listener to someone you know that just needs someone to listen to them?
We are all born with something within us that we are meant to use to change the world around us positively. If each of us looked deep inside ourselves, we would see that if we could attach some kind of value to our lives and put our gifts and talents to use, we would make a difference around us. Our diversity is what makes life beautiful.
Pursuing your purpose will require you to find that one thing, even if you are not sure whether you can do it. Even if it looks like your one thing will not be enough to make an impact, someone out there needs it. Your one thing needs YOU to get it done. Along your journey, you will be required to take a leap of faith and make your important contribution to your neighborhood or your city.
Getting up to do that one small thing may be exactly what you need to get out of your comfort zone to make more discoveries that can further reveal your purpose to you. Sometimes we underestimate the steps needed to change our lives, and the only thing required of us to be able to turn it into gold is our time, effort, and creativity.
What is your one thing?
My one thing is lifting people up when they are unsure of themselves and helping them to see what qualities they have inside that they are not acknowledging as being valuable. It started with inspiring my children to be their best, but as I started working outside the home and interacting with more people, I realized that adults need the same inspiration. They need someone who could see the best parts of them and, more importantly, someone who could help them see themselves and their authentic, unique selves.
That one thing helped me realize that I have the wonderful ability to listen to people and hear their pain and/or challenges and use that knowledge to create beautiful journaling and planning tools to help them on their journey.
My one thing is my purpose. Your one thing could be your purpose, or it could lead you to your purpose.
Have you discovered your one thing yet?
I challenge you to look deep inside yourself, take stock of your past and how you have served others to discover your one thing. Your one thing will surely lead you to discovering and fulfilling your purpose.
Lisa Chestnut, Author & Digital Designer
Lisa is an author and digital designer. Lisa has had many career paths from secretary to marketing analyst. Along the way, technology has always been a huge part of her focus, starting with computer networking and ecommerce moving through to digital design. Lisa is dedicated to inspiring women (& their families) to love themselves, mentally, physically and spiritually. Lisa guides others in life situations by creating systems that they can use as tools to help themselves. She helps them to realize that their uniqueness is a gift to be embraced and shared with others. Lisa creates beautifully designed journals and planners. She creates each product to fulfill a specific purpose so that every person can live an intentional, productive, and beautiful life. Everyone can help themselves through anything if they only had a system to guide them.
