Recently I’ve been looking for a trusted resource to guide me through starting my own business. I knew I wanted to be my own boss, and I wanted to base my career on a combination of my passions (music, sustainability, wilderness, travel, and possibly few others). It felt overwhelming for me to sort through the wealth of online resources about how to earn income in all of these areas, and then choose all the right options for me and build them out in a good order.
So last month, when I found out about Live Your Legend - a global online community dedicated to helping each other live lives of meaning and purpose - I got excited about the idea of starting from what gave me meaning and purpose and building from there. One of the courses offered there, Live Off Your Passion, jumped out at me based on the testimonials. The course leads you through some serious self-discovery, so that you can define and articulate who you are, and craft a career based on what’s important to you in life. You do that by taking steps each week that ultimately lead to living your life with intention and in alignment with your values.
I knew that a deep dive was necessary for me to get going in the right direction for me. A few years ago as I was beginning to set myself up as a solo musical artist, I ended up grinding to a halt with feelings of inauthenticity, disillusionment, and stagnation. Something just felt wrong about it. However, I knew it was possible to for me to incorporate music and my other passions and values in some combination into a life and complementary career that did feel authentic, and I just really needed a guide and a community to hold me accountable for figuring it out!
Until today, I figured the ambition to complete this course, and to start my own business by the end of it, was better kept a secret until I had some success with it. That way, I wouldn’t have to be ashamed or embarrassed if everything didn’t go as planned. “No,” I thought, “It’s much safer to keep my plan between me and my closest friends.”
However, one of the first things I did in the course was commit to completing every activity and directive in it. Today, the directive in my course materials is to share the whole experience, not just the highlight reel:
Let yourself be seen.
Be human.
Share your challenges with those around you, like the things that terrify you and the hardest parts of life. Watch what happens.
If you let more of the world see who you are, who else might end up in your corner? There’s only one way to find out.
Well, that sounds terrifying to a recovering perfectionist like me, but I’m also quite stubborn, so I’ll do it! I will share not just with my closest friends, but with anyone who might stumble across this public blog. This is the first of a series of posts in which I will work my way through the Live Off Your Passion course. I welcome you to follow along on this uncertain and exhilarating path I’m headed down. I’ll be sharing whatever excitement, successes, uncertainty, disappointment or failures come with it, so that it reflects the real experience! In this digital age in which it’s easy to believe that “everyone else” is living really perfect lives (based on what social media looks like), I see the importance of sharing challenges, fears, setbacks, and negative emotions along with the positive ones. Laugh with me, celebrate with me, bear witness to the struggles that I’ll inevitably run into. If nothing else, I hope my openness can encourage others to share their struggles and lift each other up, and in that way add a little bit of kindness and compassion to the world. If you want to follow along, subscribe below. If you do subscribe, thank you for helping me hold myself accountable for this commitment to myself! Next post: Live Off Your Passion Journal Part 2: Finding Out What I'm All About