Is It Your Passion or Your Purpose?

Merriam-Webster defines a passion as a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement for something or about doing something. Passions replace your pupils with flames. Whirl your aura into a cloud of red. They tickle the undersides of your feet. Though they can piss you off at times, ultimately, they bring you joy.

Note: your purpose is a passion, but your passions aren’t necessarily your purpose.

As much as I love the children that I carried, birthed, and raised, they are not my purpose. They are my passions. The same goes for my husband, my parents, running, and dancing. They’re all passions–some deeper than others, obviously. Still, not my purpose.

This is where many women lose themselves–in roles. We become wives and mothers, and adopt these roles as our purpose. Oftentimes, the purpose had yet to be discovered and the passions fall by the wayside. The result is detrimental to not only the woman, but to those around her as well.

Subtract your passions from the equation and you’re still alive. Subtract purpose and you are no more. Self exists solely for purpose. That’s not to say that passions aren’t important because they are.

Passions lead you to the grand discovery of purpose. Passions excite you when you find yourself exhausted. Passions give you fresh perspectives, new outlooks, and fuel for your journey of purpose.

Purpose refuses to shut up, always reminding you that she’s there, waiting. To be explored and manifested in a new and original way that only you know how to do. That only you can do. Purpose knows you on a first-name basis.

For example, there’s billions of writers, but none like me. Even if I gave them the recipe, they couldn’t do it like me. Similarly, I couldn’t do it like them. To each her own. Because of this, I don’t see other writers as competition. As my friend Kadena Tate argues, “Authenticity has no competition.”

These new, original ideas are what keep you passionate about your purpose. These ideas draws the writers back to the pen, the dancer to the music, the chef to the food, the coach to the client, the actress to the set, etc.

Purpose clashes its passionate, energetic, spontaneous energy with some peaceful, honest, and devoted energy. The result is a vibe that stimulates Mama Intuition, creativity, universal flow, and transcendence.

At the intersection of discovering your gift and sharing your gift is the purpose of life.

Have you discovered yours? If so, have you begun to share it? How?