Discovering and aligning with Life Purpose has been a foundational part of my journey recovering from Chronic Illness, depression, anxiety and addiction. I believe we are all here for a reason, and that reason is to shine. Our gifts are required by the universe. If you find yourself yearning for a more fulfilling, awe-filled, passionate and loving life, aligning with purpose creates freedom and a life without limits.
Living with purpose is simply living in a way that honours and fulfils your deepest passion. The thing that makes you light up, it turns you on, motivates and energises you, excites and inspires. It absorbs and enthrals you. It may even scare you, but in a way that makes it a challenge, not a trauma.
I speak as someone who knew from an early age what my purpose is. I grew up in an environment that did not support it and told me I had to live in a certain way before I could ‘indulge’ my passion. I kept saying, ‘I’ll do it when… I’ve got a stable and respectable job/ got savings/ buy a house and settle down/ well and strong enough to fit it into my full day.'
I lived putting obstacle after obstacle in my way to my joy, believing the world was adding more blocks as I went along too. It was always the 5th or 6th thing on my to do list after work, chores, DIY, helping others, numbing out boredom or pain with alcohol and drugs, or recovering from illness.
Turns out the reason I was born to this planet, into this body, at this moment in time is to live that passion. It’s not just top of the list; it’s the ENTIRE list. All the other stuff should have been to support me doing on truest passion, and instead, I lived in opposite land, where passion came last or often not at all. I had been administrating a life with a fixation only on the admin, not on the reason I was keeping myself alive in the first place.
It was a purposeless life.
When this happens we can start to get messages from our body, heart, soul. Messages from our innate essential self, messages from the universe:
“Hey, you’re not on path here”
“Hey, you’re not in your joy”
“Hey, it’s time to wake up.”
I was one of the ones that didn’t listen at first. I spent a lifetime with illness and fatigue, low self-esteem and very limiting beliefs about myself and the world. The more messages I got, the more I resisted. By the time I was 30 years old, I was experiencing severe physical and emotional distress daily. My approach to dealing with it? Drink. Drugs. Distraction. Dissociation.
The final message was unavoidable. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was, I believe, my body’s way of throwing me to rock bottom where I had a choice - give up or get up. It took 8 years, and I had to make that choice daily - often many times a day - but I got up.
On every part of the journey there was an insight into why things had gotten so very bad and why my life just stopped when the illness came. It was the voice and pull of my passion - my truest self, the gifts and talents I was sent here to honour and fulfil. Every time I committed to recovery, healing the trauma that taught me limiting beliefs, setting boundaries in toxic relationships and co-dependency, nourishing my body with the right food and movement, my creativity surged back and filled me with hope, happiness, peace.
The old patterns fought back, so I’d lose it and have to do more work to reconnect. But it was always the same - when I aligned I was alive. When I lived the lie, it was soul-death. The physical working of my body and mind reflected these states, oscillating between energy and healing and severe fatigue, viruses, maldigestion and migraine.
Purpose heals.
Passion is why we are here.
Whatever the impossible dream is, whenever you say: “I would if… was different”, THAT is where the work needs to be done and with support, techniques, and guidance you too can free yourself of the limits to living your best, most fulfilling and vital life.
You are an essential part of this universe. We need you. Stop living small, it serves no one.
As Marianne Williamson says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our Light, not our Darkness, that most frightens us.”
My approach is based on this belief. I truly believe that we are all essential to the universe and are here for a reason. Our deepest passion is required by this world. Whatever that may be - art, writing, animal husbandry, engineering, singing, baking, leading, creating communities, painting, growing, designing, flying, swimming, praying, raising children, WHATEVER… we need you.
You are part of the whole. Everything in nature has its place, its purpose and all the resources it needs to flourish. You are no different.
Find your best life though coaching and self-discovery with someone who has walked the path from severe restriction and defeat to freedom and vitality.
Whatever is holding you back can be healed, released, transformed. I didn’t believe a word of this until I was given no choice but to find new answers, learn new information, find new mentors, tread a new path. If you have an inkling that there is a better life available to you, reach out for the support and connection you need to start making changes today.
You are essential. I want to see you SHINE.
To work with Jen 1-1, in a small group or get a recommendation of other coaches that can help you live your best life, email jenevanseft@gmail.com