“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
It’s what every child hears when they are little. As if a 5 year old has any clue what’s out there to do.
You hear all kinds of responses from a police officer, a firefighter, a nurse, dinosaur hunter, and or even a super hero!
I wanted to be a zoo keeper at one time. Then I wanted to be an astronaut.
Why do we ask kids these questions so young?? I’ll tell you why.. to get them dreaming and thinking. To steer them in the direction to realize they get to decide what they want to do. To open up the possibilities in their little imaginations. To light fires that can one day grow into blazing furnaces. To ignite passions as the years go by.
In 2002 I graduated high school in a little town in South Carolina, with no real plan of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I didn’t know what my passions were at the time – at least I didn’t recognize what I loved to do as passions. I had struggled with depression through most of high school and helping others was somewhere on my radar, but I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with it. So, like a lot of my aimless peers, I enrolled in a degree in psychology my freshman year of college. Back then, that’s what you signed up for if you weren’t sure – psychology. Why? I don’t know.. But that’s what you did.
When I got past all the boring standard college courses and started getting into Psychology, I realized that wasn’t exactly the career path what I wanted. I dove into Social Work and got a lot under my belt there – but still not quite hittin’ me right. Finally, for whatever reason I decided I wanted to work for OSHA. Again – why?? I don’t know, but in 2004 it lead me to change my degree *and* my school. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I enrolled in Health Promotion thinking it would lead me to OSHA. Little did I know I was beginning a journey to change everything!!
I thought I was just looking for a career – I had no idea that there was such a thing as doing what you love and getting paid for it! I had no clue that I could get paid to do what I naturally did all the time – Help people be the best versions of themselves. But the more and more I got into my degree, the more I fell in love with it! Not for OSHA, but just the entire field of Health and Wellness Promotion. It sparked so much passion in me that it was unreal.
Fast forward to 2006.
During college I was not following the Lord. Saved – but not committed. Spring of 2006 I rededicated my life and in July that year, during intense prayer and meditation, I received a vision and a calling. It was clear, detailed, and intentional. I wrote every bit of it down. God showed me not just a career in health and wellness – but a mission… with many moving parts and many people involved. Even gave me a vision of what the facility would look like! To say I was on fire is an understatement!
2007 I met my ex-husband and we got married very quickly. My entire life was derailed from that moment. I thought my “vision” wasn’t a vision at all, and was just a silly little flash of adrenaline and enthusiasm one day that meant nothing. I let it go to sleep for 10 years…
2017 I woke up and realized I didn’t have to live oppressed for the rest of my life. After 10 years of abuse, I’d had enough. I had a life God gave me and since I was being blocked from living His purpose for me, I had to get out. (SO much more to that story though…) So I did..
I started thinking.. what am I going to do? How will I provide for my kids?? What’s my purpose?? What am I good at? What do I *want* to do?
I really didn’t know.. So I just started taking little baby steps, and really taking a hard look at myself and what I loved. Well… earlier that year I’d been wanting to get certified in coaching but my ex wouldn’t pay for it… SO… within a week of leaving I was enrolled in the IAWP for wellness coaching and God picked up right where he left off in 2006! I just started walking in faith and looking for open doors. I had realized over the course of 10 years that I love helping others, and I realized CLEARLY in 2017-18 that my passion was to empower, support, and guide other women who had lost themselves! I landed an amazing job at a local business as a Corporate Wellness Director which gave me SO much valuable experience and wisdom, as well as financial stability while I waited for God to do something with His vision, and I will forever be grateful for that time.
Now, this is the cool part! God is AMAZING at taking what Satan intends for evil and using it for His good!! Everything I had been through from college, through marriage, through the exit and starting over – God used every single bit of it to give me wisdom, guidance, experience, tools, and strength to do what I’m doing now! I had no idea how MUCH I loved helping others.. but it was my *passion*.. I just had to discover that’s what it was!
Through a process, I learned SO much about myself and what God had put into me.
Then after a lay-off at my job and the quarantine from COVID-19, I am now reaching out to help other women.
One of the first steps to figuring all this out was to write down “What’s My Why?” I had to understand why. Over the years as trauma and turmoil hit my life, I developed a saying: “We go through things in life so that we can help others when they go through the same things.” — And that’s exactly why I do what I do. To provide for my family by helping others get through the very things I went through and come out empowered and stronger on the other side.
This is my passion, and this is my purpose! You have one too… what is it??