Living with Purpose 

This time of year, when kids head back to school, always seems like the perfect time to hit the reset button. Getting my three girls organized for school and figuring out what our family schedule is going to look like with all their activities inspires me to think about my own schedule. Now is the perfect time to take a good look at how I’m spending my time and what changes I’d like to make. I invite you to do the same. 

The truth is we all have the same 24 hours in a day. For many of us, it’s not difficult to fill those hours or to have them filled for us. That’s why it’s so important to be intentional with our time, taking control of our lives instead of letting life control us. 

Living with purpose means figuring out what’s important to us and what God wants us to do and making time for that. God wants us to live a rich, meaningful life with time to grow in our faith and share our gifts with others. Today I want to share my thoughts on how to live with intention and some practical things I’m doing to live my own life with greater purpose. 

Devoting time.

For me, living with purpose includes devoting certain days of the week to specific aspects of my business. This helps me feel more in control of my schedule and allows me to plan time for other priorities. I’m working on getting better about this, but aren’t we all works in progress? 

Speaking of other priorities, I am committed to getting back into exercise. I haven’t been moving my body the way I want to or as often as I know I should. When schedules get crazy and “busy” takes over, it’s too easy to not make time for exercise. Devoting specific times on specific days to exercise will help. 

Of course, I want to devote time to my family. By being more purposeful with my work time, I am more able to give my family my undivided attention in the evenings. They deserve it, and I love it! 

Living with intention.

I find it easier to live with intention when I take the time to set intentions for each day as well as intentions for the week. I suggest you do the same. Start by asking yourself, “What’s important to me?” The answers to that question will help you set priorities as you decide where and when you’ll devote your time. 

Make sure you fit time with Jesus into your schedule. Asking for God’s help is a big part of me being successful living a more intentional, purpose-filled life. 

Making time to create.

It’s so easy to get “too busy” for things we enjoy or things that we’d like to make priorities in our lives. Recently, I took a trip to Florida with my close group of creative business owner friends. Each of us owns a business and each of us is busy. Like, crazy busy at times. It would have been so easy for us to say we couldn’t find the time to get together. Instead, we plan ahead. We get these trips on the calendar as much as a year in advance to make sure they happen. Spending this time together fills us all up, it’s good for us and for our businesses. 

During that trip, we made a last-minute decision to take a painting class. Some members of the group thought about sitting it out, but in the end, we decided it was something we all wanted to do together. Some of my friends hadn’t painted in years! As for me, even though I paint all the time, I couldn’t remember the last time I had taken an art class like that. It might have been in college! 

The class challenged me and even frustrated me. But I learned and grew as an artist.  After I got over my frustration, I realized I needed to trust myself and how I create and go with that. I didn’t have to do exactly what everyone else was doing. I need to push myself out of my comfort zone more like this because what I found was that I loved it once I got over the hurdle of the process.

I even ended up buying a suitcase full of the thick impasto paint that we used so I could continue my journey at home! We learn so much about ourselves when we push past our fears and trust the process of creating! 

Is your art important to you? 

When you take the time to create, to paint, how do you feel? Do you feel relief? Do you feel a sense of escape from the worries and duties of everyday life? Think about what your art does for you and in turn what that does for the people in your life. When you take time to fill your cup, you are able to be a better you for the ones you love. 

We women spend so much time and energy doing for others. And that’s okay. I love taking care of my family and doing for the ones I love most. But if I spend all my time pouring into others, soon enough I won’t have anything left to give. We have to spend time doing things that fill us back up. That way we’re ready to give more with a happy, peace-filled heart. 

My art fills me up. Creating, playing with my paints, and letting my art guide me all fill me up. Since you’re here, I imagine your art does the same for you. It’s time to decide if your art is important enough to you to make time for it. I hope it is! 

If you feel like you don’t have time to paint, sit down with your calendar and make time for it. I can’t wait to see what you create! 

If you would like to be notified before I go Live on The Social Easel Facebook Page with a fun art tutorial, text “Hey Friend” to 417-217-7044.