Be Who You Were Created to Be. Part 4: Lean in
My mouse hovered nervously over the big blue “Share” button.
I had just finished writing my first blog post and was trying to decide if it was worth sharing. I debated seriously about closing the browser and shutting my laptop entirely.
If I clicked that “share” button, the word would be out. People would know what I’ve been up to and read words I’d written straight from the heart. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.
Maybe… I thought. Maybe I’ll get lucky and people will just silently stumble upon my words so I won’t have to put myself out there.
This thought was immediately followed by a louder one:
But who’s going to just magically find your blog, Kris, if you don’t tell people it’s here?
So I took a deep breath and clicked the mouse to share my first blog post.
This was November of 2018. I had thrown a few older posts up on the blog for filler, but I finally decided to share the one I really felt I had put my heart into: 10 Things I’ve Learned Since Turning 30.
And I haven’t stopped writing on this site ever since.
Why do I share this story? Because now is the time to take action.
We’ve done a lot of digging to get to this point. We’ve thought about who we were as a kid and what brought us joy/what were we naturally good at back then. We’ve talked about how to embrace who we are rather than what the world says we should be by giving things up and by taking baby steps toward the direction we think we should go. And we’ve discussed how to handle having multiple ambitions plus how our ambitions/calling can be totally different from what we do for work.
This is the last and final little nudge to get you off the fence and into action. This is when things get real and also downright scary (if I’m being honest). It’s one thing to KNOW what you’re meant to do. It’s a whole other thing entirely to act on it.
Lean In.
Have you ever taken a moment to think that what you’re doing today maybe isn’t exactly what you were created to do? It’s kind of a scary thought, isn’t it?
Maybe you’re working an office job but you really have a heart for non-profit. Maybe you’re at home with the kiddos, all the while feeling this tug on your heart to go back to work or start a side-hustle. Maybe you’re checking all the boxes and leading an organized life, but you feel the nudge to bust out of your rut and get creative.
Friend, whatever it is, please don’t discount these little whispers in your heart. Please don’t push them away thinking that now’s not the right time or that your life is going fine the way it is and there’s no need to change anything.
Now is the time to lean in.
From experience I can tell you that these whispers never really go away. They just keep circling back again and again and again. It’s up to you to lean into it. To take action. To take a tiny baby step forward, trusting that you’re going in the right direction. The direction God is leading you so you can fully own who He made you to be.
I’ve spent some time in the past playing small. (More time that I’d frankly like to think about or admit.) But eventually, I got tired of trying to be someone else and decided to just be me. The Kris who’s a little loud, who sometimes speaks out of turn or forgets to filter my words. (I’m really much better at writing so I can EDIT.) The me who works and also writes. The me who is a mom and finds joy in doing things for myself. The me who loves family and home and Jesus and coffee and the Moana soundtrack occasionally when I run (yes, you read that right🤓).
Think about this: If I hadn’t leaned in to who I actually am, you wouldn’t be reading these words right now.
So please don’t dim your light or shelve your ideas because of timing, or what others might think. Lean into those whispers. Shine brightly. Let others see your light and be encouraged to shine theirs as well.
Action Step:
We’ve made it through the full series. Whoo hoo! I could keep writing to try to drive my point home, but instead, I’d like to leave you with a little challenge:
Today, take 10 minutes and just get quiet. (Bonus points if you have more time, but I’m a busy mama so I understand that even 10 minutes can be hard to find!)
Get quiet and ask God where He wants you to go. Listen to your heart and your gut. Think about who you were as a kid, what lights you up, what brings you joy, and what good you want to put out into the world.
Then, lean into it and take one small baby step forward. Make a call, send a text, google your idea, tell your spouse or a friend what’s on your mind. Just do something today. Something that leads you into the direction God meant for you to go. I promise you won’t regret it.
Wrapping Up.
Without action, it can be tough for us to really lean in and become the people God created us to be.
But once we do – oh, once we do – we leave ourselves open to experience a new freedom that only comes with fully owning who we are and how God created us to be. I truly want that for you, dear reader, and I hope you know that you can have it for yourself, too.❤️
***OVER TO YOU: Thank you for taking the time to read this series! Let me know which part spoke to you the most in the comments below!
