Finding Direction

Someone once described me as a hummingbird, a creature who flits about seemingly randomly without any sort of direction. I can see why they said that!

I have a hard time with choices. I just don’t want to make the wrong one! As you can imagine, I had a tough time in college. There were so many paths I could walk down, but I was afraid of even choosing one. What if I made the wrong decision? What if I committed all of my time to one thing only to find that I hated it? The thought of doing only one thing for the rest of my life terrified me. It sounded so stagnant and boring. I struggled with questions like, “What’s my calling? What am I passionate about enough to want to do it for the rest of my life?” I couldn’t come up with a concrete answer. I wanted to do so many things! I wanted to learn how to cook, dance, act, speak another language, learn to play other instruments (besides the saxopohone!), and so much more. Like a hummingbird, I’d flit back and forth between each idea. I’d even try them out a little, but I was so scattered about it. I’d become excited about one thing, try it for a little while, lose interest and move on to the next thing that caught my attention. Then I would become frustrated. “What’s wrong with me?” I’d ask myself. “Why does everyone around me seem to know what they want to do with their lives but I don’t?” Even though I was afraid of living a stagnant life, I was stagnant. I had no direction. I lived in a grey area. Hummingbirds had more direction than me!

The problem was I hadn’t asked myself an important question: What is important to me? Instead, I was investing my time in things that sounded interesting to me on the surface. I would immerse myself in a subject for days. I’d drown myself in it desperately wanting it to be my “calling.” Then I’d completely lose interest and walk away feeling even more frustrated with my life.

So how do you find direction? You sit down in a quiet place and you find out what’s important to you. I think a good way to do this is to ask yourself how you want to help others. Instead of asking yourself, “What do I want to do with the rest of my life?” turn the focus of that question outward. Ask yourself these questions to help get to the core of what you want from your life:

What do I want impact the lives of others in a positive way?

How do I want to help others?

If I could teach somebody anything I wanted, what would it be?

What would I enjoy helping others with even if I wasn't paid to do it?

These questions will point you in the direction of what is truly important to you at this moment in your life. Armed with that information you can then move on to transforming your life into the one that you want to live.

Remember, even hummingbirds know where they want to go!