33 Signs You’ve Found Your Life’s Work

33 Signs You’ve Found Your Life’s Work

When I work with patients, I always ask them whether they’re doing their life’s work, because I truly believe that how we spend most of our day, and whether it’s in line with our life’s work, affects our health. When I ask a woman if she’s doing her life’s work, way too often, she stares at me blankly.

Life's WorkSo how can you tell? How do you know if you’re doing your life’s work? There’s no easy answer to that question other than “You just know.” But to give you a sense of what it feels like to discover and then commit to fulfilling your life’s work. I’ve created this list of signs for you.

Related: Got a Narcissist at Work? This is How to Deal with Real Life Horrible Bosses

 
33 Signs You’ve Found Your Life’s Work

1.     You’re scared shitless.

2.     You notice that the pieces of the puzzle of your life’s work all line up, and you can tell that The Universe has got your back.

3.     You feel like you’re on a rollercoaster (simultaneously exhilarated and nauseous).

4.     There’s a “plunk” sort of feeling in your gut that affirms that you’ve found your life’s work.

5.     Your whole life – the triumphs and the setbacks – suddenly makes sense.

6.     Magical things start happening, and although you feel a sense of wonder, you’re not surprised.

7.     None of your choices feel safe.

8.     Everybody suspects you’ve officially lost it.

9.     You’ve quit listening to what everybody thinks.

10.  You feel guided.

11.  You’ve got butterflies in your tummy.

12.  You feel like you’ve risked everything but it’s all okay.

13.  You feel a wee bit lonely, because nobody has ever blazed this trail exactly the same way you have.

14.  The nightmares are replaced by dreams that affirm your direction.

15.  You feel spiritually in tune.

16.  There’s a good chance you have no employer matching your 401K contribution.

17.  You naturally attract those that help further your life’s work.

18.  You’re pushed to the very edge – and just as you start to question your life’s work, everything falls into place.

19.  The money shows up right when you need it.

20.  You sometimes wonder if you’re totally nuts.

21.  You feel giddy for no apparent reason.

22.  You have a sense that you’re on the right path, even if you don’t know where you’re going.

23.  You’re life’s work might seem hard to others, but for you, it’s a piece of cake.

24.  Others are better off because you’re doing your life’s work.

25.  You feel a perfect mix of total panic and inner peace beyond comprehension.

26.  You can’t wait to do your life’s work every morning. In fact, it’s hard to drag you away from it, even on vacation.

27.  You’d do your life’s work even if nobody ever paid you for it.

28.  You find yourself turning down other work, even if it’s more stable and more lucrative.

29.  You’re on a mission, and you know it.

30.  You don’t notice aches and pains the way you used to.

31.  Your health improves.

32.  Abundance just appears in your life in unexpected ways.

33.  You smile more than you ever have in your life.

Keep in mind that your life’s work doesn’t have to be a job. Your life’s work could be raising 21 children. Or volunteering in Africa or at your local soup kitchen.

As someone who has found her life’s work, I can say with absolute certainty that you know it when you’ve found it.

Have You Found Your Life’s Work?

Tell us if you’re one of the blessed who knows what you’re here on this earth to do.

Living my life’s work,

Lissa

About the Author

Lissa Rankin, MD: Founder of OwningPink.comPink Medicine Revolutionarymotivational speaker, and author of What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend and Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax.

*Reprinted with permission from OwningPink.com.

 

 

33 Signs You’ve Found Your Life’s Work

Does Beauty Need to Hurt?

By Laura Fenamore, Owning Pink

I have a secret.

While it’s true that I care more about women making peace with their bodies than most people, and although I live my life committed to supporting women in liking who and what they see when they look in the mirror, I was one of the first in line to see Sex & The City II when it came out a few years ago.

Seems so shallow to admit that. Let’s face it ladies, as much as many of us love these four characters, they are not exactly representational of most women today – many of whom are struggling to take care of their children while working full time. But while Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda do not represent most women, they do represent something that makes my heart just sing. I fell in love with the characters from the get-go. I literally cried my way through the last episode of the series, and have watched every episode a few times each. The pretend world they occupy feels and looks so glamorous, and I love how they strut around exuding power in a way that feels sincere and effortless.

While I do like to look nice, I am not a shopper and I am not someone who goes crazy about fashion. But whenever I am trying on clothes, I make believe I am Carrie – my favorite character on the show. I am nothing like her, and yet she is my alter ego. I just love how she walks around NYC in her high heels and cool clothes.

My own “Carrie” moment

So yesterday, I am in Banana Republic and I put myself into Carrie mode. I see this pair of heels that are so fun, so cool, and so not me, and yet I had this feeling come over me, and suddenly I HAD TO HAVE THEM! I did not care what they cost, how high they were, how much they hurt – I just had to have them.

I wear a size 10 wide, and it is difficult to find shoes in my size. However, the store had a 10, and on my feet they went. They were too tight and so not right. I said to Michael, the gay guy helping me, “These shoes are so tight, but I want to be like Carrie.”

Michael cracked up. Then he looked at me very seriously and said, “Honey, beauty is painful.”

I said, “You are so right, and it is so unfair.”

Of course I got them. After all, they were on sale.

Does it have to hurt?

I care more about our insides than about how we look. I care about how we talk to ourselves every day, and I want to live in a world where we are less critical and more self-loving. I care more than anything about the obesity epidemic that plagues us, and I care about the fact that we are seduced by the beauty industry. I care that models starve themselves and that “beauty is painful.” Women – myself included – do all kinds of whacky things to make themselves look good at the expense of their health and their soul.

I am passionately committed to these causes. I so want to live in a world where beauty is no longer cruel. But I also have an inner Carrie who, in a perfect world, can still have sexy black high heels. It’s one of those great paradoxes that makes me who I am. I own both parts, and know they’re right. (I just wish the Carrie side didn’t have to hurt!)

What about you? Are you willing to suffer for beauty? Have you suffered long enough? Where along the continuum from inner beauty to outer glamor do you spend most of your time?

Teetering in tight heels,
Laura

Laura Fenamore, CPCCLaura Fenamore's picture
Body Image Mastery Mentor
www.onepinky.com

 

*This post originally published at and copyright of OwningPink.com. Reprinted with permission.

Pin It on Pinterest