Follow your dreams. Live out your purpose. Don’t allow the pressure, fear, anxiety, loneliness, and criticism to stop you. When you come across any of these, do the following two things. Make room for God and remember your WHY. -Jovianna Palacio
These past couple of weeks I have become more aware of the weight that comes with following your dreams or living out your purpose. In these moments of hyperawareness, I get overwhelmed and consumed by doubt, fear, and insecurity. In these moments I do two things. I make room for God and remember my why. I will expand on these two things a little later on. You may say, “Jovi what do you mean?”. It sounds so nice when you say, “follow your dreams and live out your purpose”. What I mean is not excepting excuses, taking more risks than you are comfortable with, and skydiving out of your comfort zone.
I should explain that when I say living out my dream and living out my purpose, I mean starting my own business, honestly, if it were only running a small business, I might be fine, but let's be real! I am not only a business owner. I am a mother, wife, employee, sister, friend, worship team member, accountant, secretary, and so much more, AND a business owner. Building a business is so complex. There are the legalities, customer service, marketing, and sales, and did I mention I’m still working two other jobs on top of it all? I know and believe that this is God's purpose for my life. This passion and desire, this dream was given to me by God. But I have had to learn that just because this purpose and dream were given to me by God, it doesn’t mean that I won’t have to work hard to achieve them. It doesn’t mean that my entrepreneurial journey is going to be flawless. This journey can be lonely, hard, scary, confusing, annoying, and infuriating. Not to mention, exhausting both physically and mentally. Every one of us feels these emotions weekly, regardless of what our responsibilities are each day.
In the moments I am feeling the pressure a little more than usual, I do two things. The first is I make room for God. I lean on him and seek his guidance. One of the many benefits of having a relationship with God is that we can call on his many promises to get us through our challenges. God is the only thing that can come into those emotions and make you steady. Now if you are anything like me you’ll say your prayer, read a few verses, and then expect an immediate change. What can I say, instant gratification has ruined me. But all jokes aside, I begin to imagine what I prayed for when it will happen, what it will look like, what it will feel like. I start to design every detail of my life, the way I want it.
There is nothing wrong with this. It's called manifestation, a proclamation that what we are praying and believing for will come true. The problem lies in not being flexible with God and setting limits. Many times I think that the ideas for my life or business must happen the way that I asked God, otherwise I’m not satisfied. In this moment of making room for God, involving him in your life/business is important to not limit God. His ways are better. His roadmap for your business or life is a more direct route. You know, like a GPS. You plug your destination in, and it takes into account accidents, roadblocks, tolls, and things that can slow you down things you are not aware of because you are just trying to get to where you are going.
I am reminded of the story of Noah. Noah was instructed by God to build an ark. He was given measurements and dimensions. In other words, God gave Noah a purpose. He had a vision and a purpose he was living out. To build an ark because there was a flood coming. There was a promise, as long as he did exactly as he was told, he and his family would be safe. Can you relate? I can! God said to me “That desire you have in your heart, go for it. I got you.”.
I will not get into the biblical teaching of Noah's story today. But I do want to teach you something. Can you imagine what Noah must have thought at that moment? He must have said “Cool! A 40-day cruise with the wife and kids!” Pina Coladas, sunbathing, and an all-you-can-eat buffet. All jokes aside. His reality was much different! The promise was kept. He lived out his purpose, built the ark, and saved his family. But the journey played out much differently than Noah could’ve imagined. Noah was trapped on a large boat for 40 days and nights. Yes, with his wife and kids but also, an ALOT of smelly animals. The smell must have been terrible, and the responsibilities endless, I can imagine Noah had many nights thinking this is not how I pictured this. I bet he questioned God. Yet in the end what happened? Promises were kept, hard work paid off, solid land was found, animals were released into the wild (where they belong) and Noah and his family were saved.
This brings me to my second thing. The only way I can imagine Noah got through all of that was by reminding himself of his WHY. That's when I knew that the only way I could reign myself in and keep myself going on days when the struggle seems to want to overcome me is by remembering my WHY. What do I mean by that? I ask myself, “Why am I doing this?”, “why do I want my own business?”. For me, it's financial freedom, paying off my debt, and having a nest egg. I want the freedom to be with my son, and not have to miss out on spending time with him because I have to work overtime just to go on vacation. For you, your why may be different. It doesn't matter, just know your why. And on days where the pressure is overbearing; write it down, say it out loud, scream it till the pressure is gone.
Follow your dreams. Live out your purpose. Don’t allow the pressure, fear, anxiety, loneliness, and criticism to stop you. When you come across any of these, do the following two things. Make room for God and remember your WHY.
By- Jovianna Palacio