Working From Gifts & Passions ~ Finding My Way

This post is hitting me right where I need it. I've been wrestling with balancing my different roles in life - wife, mother of preschoolers, woman, musician career, etc. I'm looking forward to listening to the interview. I LOVE the quote that you shared about doing what we love. It's exactly how I feel. And I'm excited to try MAPP.

Thank-you!

Renee...we are so similar and in the same stage of life (albeit I also have preschoolers and another baby now too!) I so echo your passions for homemaking/relaxed homeschooling, margin, beauty, creativity, and inspiring other mamas in that way...I always find a kindred spirit here when I visit :)

Renee, thank you for this post, and all your posts. I am a long time reader of your blog and from my perspective, your honesty about your struggles are inspiration and encouragement. I hope you find a way to make it work as your 'right livelihood'.

I made big changes in my life in my early thirties to find a way to have a livelihood that aligned with my (and my hudband's) values. It was exciting and challenging and it worked for years. But then life changed: my parents got older and needed more, my daughter was born, and living near family became a priority. So with that change came another realignment that took us a bit farther away from our values.

Reading your blog is inspiration that I can get back to where we were, while still living close to family and being near my parents for their last years. It is small steps and slow going, but it is done with intent and I am sure we will get there.

I actually like the word ambition.

Have you ever read the novel Jane Eyre? There is a very ambitious young man who chooses the "outlet" of Missionary to "legitimately" fulfill his enormous sense of ambition.

I came away from his character thinking, If he could just call it by its real. name. he wouldn't be such a jerk about it getting it to look exactly right!

Our pastor made a disparaging remark in his sermon last Sunday about the foolishness of women trying/thinking to find fulfillment in a career (implied: at the expense of home). I'm sure he was trying to affirm his wife and all the other mothers, but it sat heavy in my stomach.

I've just about framed my response to that anger (a full week later): I think no one can find fulfillment in a career: man or woman, so I resented women being singled out.

On the other hand, I fully believe our enjoyment of life is directly tied to a sense of purpose, and for some of us, the definition of purpose includes such a vast scope the walls of our home are not big enough to contain it all.

Some imply this means neglect of those within our walls, but I like to ask (with a smile that I hope is not a smirk) if those doubters would enjoy the fullness of my undiluted intensity raining down on them 24/7.

Lets just say I've got 3, maybe 4 friends who can can have a conversation longer that 15 minutes with me. (More than once a month.)

There is the inevitable finding-my-feet in this purpose-naming, but there is also the understanding that I would become a smother-mother if everything I have was pressed onto my family.

Renee,

You said, "I want to encourage and inspire people to live healthy, adventurous and creative lives, with beauty and intention."

Just so you know......you are doing exactly that right now. Every time I come here, I am encouraged and inspired. Thank you. :)g

I'm loving watching this whole process unfold for you. Sometimes my mind is off dreaming up future activity-work-life adventures and I have to stop and remind myself that the moment is where I'm needed right now. Three littles will not be little forever. But getting to watch others forge the way is inspiring, to say the least. And thanks to that interview link. Hoping my satellite net will let me listen to it. :)

Renee, I was introduced to John O'Donohue through an expressive arts group a couple of years ago. What an amazing soul. I have read all of his books and highly recommend them. I don't know if you know of his friend, David Whyte? He is a poet who brings his work into the business world. These two men have changed my life! I highly recommend David Whyte's What to Remember When Waking talks and Clear Mind Wild Heart set as well. I am so encouraged with your posts and the choices that you and your family make. Thanks for sharing yourself with all of us.

Renee, I am so very happy to have found your blog - so many similarities between your family and mine - although, too, so many differences.
We did find a way to live, learn, and work together as a family up here in northern Vermont, three years ago (a very long journey), but we are going through a bit of a re-evaluating time - to make our income portion a bit more holistic and so that we have ways to use our creative pursuits more.
Again, thank you for your sharing. Warm wishes, Tonya

I think we find beauty when we choose to see it right now, whatever stage we are at in life. It is so important, as we transition through seasons of life, and begin to stretch out toward new goals/dreams, that we not forget all that is wonderful at this time/moment. Dreaming is good. Working hard is also admirable. But not at the expense of today and the gifts it holds for us. I think this is incredibly challenging to keep in mind.

I am excited to be entering a new stage of life where I am free to explore some new challenges/dreams but often wonder about and am concerned for moms of young children who might read blogs and compare and feel "less than". As though they should be doing more, reaching for more. I think the only reason you have so much peace in this stage of your journey, Renee, is because you limited yourself during the earlier years of parenting. You chose to invest in your family. I know you have said as much but it bears repeating, I think, for women who might wrestle with wondering if they'll ever have time, in the future, for some of the dreams they willingly laid down to build a family.

Beautiful interview..thanks for all the great links you are passing on. I too deeply resonated with him talking about our gifts and passions being for our communities not only for ourselves. This also helps me to truly value my passions as we have an obligation to our community to keep coming into ourselves. I am deeply motivated by this service but am also slowly working on my blocks to earning money using my gifts and passions. I do struggle with this but also appreciate that it is all part of the journey of living an creative, adventurous, self-determined and meaningful life.

Yes, I have a little 'pearl of wisdom' to share, it's the motto that I live by these days....when you see a storm approaching or you are actually in a stormy part of your life,...it's not about waiting for the storm to pass....it's about learning how to dance in the rain!

MOM

Beautiful !!! Thanks again for share your wonderful journey and thoughts. And for share M.A.P.P, very helpful.

It is so fascinating watching your process. Thank you for your openness in sharing your journey with us. I have been thinking about you since yesterday when I took the time to sit down and catch up with the last few weeks of blog posts. You are making me think about my life, too, and the choices I have before me. Thank you.

Renee, I have been a huge fan of Krista Tippett and her show for many years now, and I know exactly which episode you are talking about because it's one of my favorites. I think I listened to it twice. I haven't listened to the show in a long time because (can you guess?) I don't have time, but it's always on my playlist, just in case...

I think so many of us have similar dreams and passions. We want to find the path where our desires and ways of livelihoods can work together for the harmony of all. I believe its a journey we all deserve to take.

Thanks for the interview tip. John O'donohue has been important in my life too. Sounds like just the medicine you needed right now, and I could use a dose too. I was once called ambitious and felt so offended, as if this were a horrible quality. I now see it as my intensely creative spirit always looking for ways to be expressed in the world.

Renee,

There are so many of us who share your passions! If nothing else, your desires have brought a group of women together who have the same dreams - something I don't have in my own physical world. I love coming here and watching your path unfold before you. Your post today made me think of one I made in November . . . http://brownpaperpackages.typepad.com/brown-paper-packages/2011/11/than.html

And yes, as another reader commented, you are already doing what you aspire to. Perhaps it's not as tangible as you wish it was . . . but I have faith it soon will.

Enjoy your week!

Don't feel bad about not knowing Krista Tippet-she spoke at my graduation for my master's and it was AMAZING! I think my dad and I were the most excited people there. I live in MN where she produces the show and every sun I get chills from the ideas and meanings that she explores with guest. I am so glad you have found a peace that brings joy. <3 that!

I love how transparent you are. Keep it up. Real folks out here in blogland appreciate hearing the making of an artist...:) And I'm excited to listen to that interview tomorrow morning!

Thanks for the link!
PS I think I was meant to be part French :)