YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED ALREADY INSIDE YOU

You have been placed on this earth with everything you need, it's already within you. The rest is practice, consistency and patience. Trust in that. Trust yourself. You have dreams and imagination for a reason.

If your purpose, for example, is to become a painter, of course you're not going to be placed on this earth already mastering every paint known to man, with all the knowledge of art history, materials, and already knowing who you are, knowing your artistic identity and expression. But you do have everything already within you to learn all those thing. You may for example be naturally drawn towards colour, or love the way different paints and materials come together, you may be simply fascinated and moved on a deep level by art, you might find painting or drawing the easiest way to express yourself or you just simply find it really enjoyable, peaceful or even therapeutic. Point is you will have the natural talents and personality traits already within you to develop and acquire the skills that you need to fulfil your purpose in a way that you will enjoy.

Personally I don't believe it's possible for our purpose to be something we fundamentally don't enjoy, it just wouldn't make sense. Sure there are always aspects we don't enjoy, you may not enjoy selling your work for example, writing invoices or keeping accounts, but in order for you to do what you love professionally, you may need to do some of the things you don't enjoy, until you develop a team, that can take on those roles.

So assuming you've found something you really love, something that fuels you, now whether you value that thing or feel empowered enough in it to make it your career, that's another matter, but deep down there is most definitely something you are naturally drawn to, that you love, enjoy and don't really seem to get tired of, at least not for long. That thing is your purpose or at least part of it. Now by nature of you loving something, you are naturally going to develop that skill, consciously or subconsciously, now the pace at which you develop that skill depends on your commitment.

Practice, consistency and patience are what are going to turn your dream and your purpose into your profession. Practice because only through practice are we able to grow. It is through doing the thing that we learn what we like and don't like, what works and what doesn't work, what we need to work more on and what we can specialise in. Practice gives us endless opportunities to grow, to become great.

Consistency is important because like with everything else, if you don't do it for a while, for forget. Sure you can be relatively quick to pick it back up again like riding a bike, but for the first few rides you're going to feel shaky if you haven't been on the bike for a while. Another reason consistency is essential, is not just about us staying on top of our game, it's important to stay consistent to give other people a chance to discover us, to enjoy and connect with what we do.

My husband recently brought this to my attention, he's a painter and he told me this story about how someone reached out to buy a painting of his saying "I've been following your work for two years and I've finally brought up the courage to get in touch with you, I would love to buy your work." Now if my husband weren't consistent in what he does, that person may never have gotten in touch, they may never have bought his work. The same goes for any profession, because sometimes people are shy, or they need longer to be convinced of something, whatever the reason. Consistency is not just important for out work we put out, it's important for reaching the people we want to connect with.

Now lastly, patience. Sometimes we can hope or expect something to take off much faster than is maybe realistic. Sometimes we get stuck in a dry period where the ideas don't flow as fast and get impatient with ourselves, or business seems slow, or we reach a point with our talents that we need to learn a new skill to further ourselves and we struggle feeling like a beginner at something, when we just want to feel and be accomplished.

Thing is, you're always going to come across a situation that needs patience, and sometimes when we just want to be at the finish line, the journey that seems to be taking detours can feel daunting or even discouraging, but don feel discouraged, don't pressure or stress yourself to meet targets or standards that do not serve you, yes sometimes we have to work hard, but for who? Is it serving your vision? Is it serving you? Or are you running after someone else's expectations? Be patient with yourself and be patient with the process. Trust. Easier said than done, I know, but you deserve to reap the fruits or your hard work, so trust yourself and trust in the process. Have faith.

Because at the end of the day, it is your dream you are fighting for, your dream alone, not anyone else's, yours. We don't joyously dream of things that are not meant for us, we dream about doing the things we love, the things we want to do and if we are dreaming it, if we are imagining it, then it is ours to fulfil. It might not always manifest in the literal sense, maybe, as we grow, our dreams develop and change, just like we develop and change, but we have dreams and imagination for a reason, and you are that reason.

So feel empowered, feel encouraged, and do what you love. You have everything you need already inside you. All my love, Cat.