We are all born with gifts. These gifts must be exposed and explored in order to be shared with others as I believe we are here for the benefit of others. Sometimes we need others to shine a light on our gifts.
Some gifts are known early in your life, others may take a while. That’s good as we have all the time we need to discover our calling.
It is not always up to us to know what these gifts are. Someone may recognize our gifts and say, hey you could be a great baseball pitcher with that arm. You may think, that’s a great idea and you pursue this path and become a great baseball pitcher.
Or you may never connect with this passing remark. Or you do connect yet you are afraid to pursue this path saying or thinking ‘I’m not as good as he is’.
That’s okay too.
Except maybe you are good enough, yet you need to practice. This idea, this thought in whatever form it is presented, makes you uncomfortable. Great!
Being uncomfortable is better than not being anything at all.
The more you practice, the more comfortable you become.
‘Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.’ George Addair
It is the practice that moves you forward. It is the practice that moves you beyond your fear because fear is what has you thinking you are not as good as someone else.
I used to say it took me ten years to write my first book. Actually, it took from the time I was born to complete that first book. I was born with this gift yet I was unaware of it.
Many people said Hey Joanne, why don’t you write a book? Who me? You have to be kidding, right?!
I dismissed these comments until something inside my brain/soul/heart decided to check it out. I attended writing classes, joined authors groups all to no avail. Still, I could not write a word.
Years passed.
Until I was asked to write a newspaper column. I had forty-eight hours to do it. I sat down and completed my first article and it was published. Done.
If I had not invested my energy in those writing classes and authors groups, I would never have been able to do this even though I had never previously put a word to paper. I was still uncomfortable, but obviously less so.
It takes whatever time it takes to move from uncomfortable to less uncomfortable to completion with many, many steps in between.
Never give up. If there is a gift inside of you, a way to benefit others, it will show up. If this gift makes you uncomfortable, be aware enough to write a list of why you are uncomfortable. You are aware right now.
If you want help with this, contact me here.
Joanne
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