you were never meant to fit the mold

You were never meant to fit the mold.

The world will present all kinds of templates for your mission and your life (because your mission is your life!).

As a coach and mentor, I’ve talked to many leaders who feel extreme pressure to show up a certain way, especially once they’re known for a specific creation, role, or service.

They feel like they’ll be letting everyone down if they don’t perform according to the old rules. Like there’s an invisible marker tracking where or who they should be. Like their past success dictates their current direction and future growth.

I get it. I’ve been there!

In every stage of my mission, I’ve come up against different “should”s and various ideas about what is required to be “good” in a particular context.

A good activist.

A good diversity and inclusion educator.

A good social media creator.

A good “spiritual” person.

A good leadership mentor.

Attempting to keep up with other people’s definitions and expectations is a losing battle. It sucks the life out of life. It turns genuine service into an obligatory routine. It turns true creativity into stale repetition.

It’s up to you to break the mold and design your mission in a way that embodies your values rather than someone else’s ideals.

Your mission is about being yourself. And being yourself is about integrity, not about being “right” or “good” in the eyes of society or other people, but being right with yourself and being good with God.

Being who you are. Living your values. Staying true to your essential nature. Maintaining your commitment to growth.

This is the nature of a life well-lived. And a life lived with this orientation naturally becomes of service.