When we are living our best life, we are constantly connecting with the people around us.
Being a part of community and thriving through connection means sharing our gifts with others and participating in one of the most rewarding acts we can do – giving – our time, our strengths, our resources – to causes and people we find most worthy.
Each person is incredibly unique, with various strengths, and this looks vastly different for each person.
Finding your true path and walking it boldly, which includes creating an intentional impact to those around you, will bring an incredible amount of joy to your life!
For the person taking the thriving challenge seriously, you know that living for yourself will not leave you fulfilled. When you give your best self to the people around you, specifically giving your talents to improve the community you are a part of, you reap rewards beyond measure!
Below I have provided 3 first steps to start thriving (and making a difference) in your community:
- Do your homework
- Commit
- Be a leader
Do your homework
In my original post about thriving, I mentioned one of the most critical steps on your journey is to find your philosophy. This refers to your truth, what you live for, and what makes you uniquely qualified to bring value to the people around you. Once we do the work to discover what we are truly passionate about, and what strengths we bring to the table, we can start making a difference in the world and find immense joy and accomplishment through that work.
There are thousands of ways to get involved in your community. First you need to solidify how and where you want to make an impact.
What causes do you want people to identify with you? What are your needs in community – either now, the past, or near future?
Are you in the beginning stages of your faith and need a group to walk that journey with you? Are you a new mom with the need to connect to other women in your stage of life? Are you incredibly passionate and knowledgable about civic responsibility, education, awareness around a particular heath concern, environmental impacts, etc?
It’s possible that you are already involved in various ways or that you have multiple areas of community that you are passionate about. That is fantastic!
I have found; however, that it is very easy to be persuaded to jump on a certain cause or mission without follow through and a true impact. If it is not a well thought out plan, you can quickly forget to commit your best efforts. You can also prevent actually making a positive and reliable impact because you are overcommitted!
In my experience, unless you make this your life’s work, you need to be intentional about one to three areas of focus and you need to be passionate enough to actually spend your precious time, resources and gifts to that area! Also, knowing your strengths (are you a good organizer, communicator, motivator, listener, etc.) will help you provide the biggest impact to the people in your community.
So do your homework first, and you will be much more impactful and efficient in how you give yourself to others!
The beauty is that when we plan to give in advance, whether that be a financial budget for the upcoming year, or dates we’ve opened up for service, we do it with a truly open heart and enjoy the process much more!
We allow ourselves to dive in 100%, enjoy the process, and we get to say no, guilt-free, to distractions! It’s a true example of living life on purpose!
Commit
After you have done the work to find your passion, your people, and have validated the time and resources you are willing to give, you are ready to leap into your work!
Now is the time to sign up for the event, raise the funds, get a sitter for the weekly time commitment, etc. Get ready to jump all in – no excuses!
This step is the most exciting part but can also dredge up a lot of self-doubt, fear or anxiety. The problem usually is not that you aren’t actually passionate about what you are investing in, but that putting yourself out there is scary! It is completely normal to question yourself a lot with “what did I get myself into?”, “what if I don’t like these people?” or “what if I really stink at this?”.
Let me give some advice here…..follow through with an open heart even if your scared.
Make sure you commit fully for the season you agreed to and re-commit each time you are present in your giving moments!
Growth opportunities are meant to be challenging and trust me, you aren’t alone in feeling unsure of how it’s all going to work out!
I promise you’ll be looking back 6 months from now thinking how glad you are that you jumped in! You’ll be amazed by how many people have touched your life! Interestingly enough, once you sacrifice your time to something, you end up with a perspective of how you benefited from the experience, even though you are the one impacting others!
Putting yourself in a vulnerable position through connection is a beautiful thing – it means you are open to growing and learning so many new things about yourself! And most of the time, even though we don’t realize it, being vulnerable opens the door to strong connections with others just by allowing ourselves to be who we are in the moment!
Things won’t be perfect and there will be awkward or unsure moments when you start your new group or volunteer for the first time with a certain organization. Just remember that what you are gaining and what you are giving others is more than you can even imagine! You are making an incredible impact just by showing up and giving 100%!
Be a leader
You probably won’t even realize it, but the moment you commit to a cause with your time and resources, you are already leading through example!
Just like the movie Pay it Forward displays in such an incredible way with random acts of kindness, when you intentionally give yourself to a cause or area of your community you are passionate about, you are inspiring tons of other people to do good and share their gifts to the world as well!
How amazing is that!
So after you have dipped your toe into the giving pool, or maybe if you already have made these first few steps, bring it up a few notches!
Lead the group instead of just participating, organize the event instead of just volunteering, create the vision for the next thing people need to know about and get involved in. Be a leader for the ones coming behind you! They are counting on you!
Even if in this season of your life you are confined to your house (hello moms of toddlers and babies!) or have a demanding work schedule (I see you kick ass people out there!) you can always do the seemingly small things that create a huge awareness and positive impact to the things you are passionate about!
Be the open house where other moms can have coffee and relax, create a donation or awareness campaign through social media, or just be open and talk about the areas in community you are incredibly passionate about and how you are involved!
I have been so inspired by the many people I know who are out there making a difference every day. I wish I could mention each one and what they have done to make an incredible difference in their communities!
So remember, connecting through community is an essential part of thriving! Each day we get to decide and take action around what our legacy will be for those coming behind us. Each interaction is an opportunity to fill someone up and connect through unconditional love!
Don’t spend your days just getting by and floating through moment by moment, be intentional about how you are impacting others through your gifts!
As the saying goes…
If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there
Make your days and moments connecting count by impacting and changing something that makes your heart beat faster!
Be Honest: We all have a million things to do already and investing more time and resources may seem like too much to squeeze in your already hectic life. Also, it’s just plain scary to put yourself out there in a situation where you may not know what to do or how it’ll work out! Just remember………
Be Kind: To yourself! Maybe, just maybe, you feel overwhelmed because you are already spread too thin! Make sure you are intentionally giving where your talents and passions live. Giving your time and unique gifts to others, however that looks for you, should make you feel alive and fill up your heart! This may be your time to evaluate how you give with purpose that aligns with your legacy!
I am cheering for you!
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