How to Live Your Purpose by Connecting with Your Inner Child

Once we become aware of the universe’s love and support, we feel so much expansion within ourselves that we want to touch the hearts of everyone around us. We begin to think to ourselves, what can I put out in the world to guide others toward the same realization? How can I help others discover this light-filled path and start their own journeys? How can I support like-minded people who are already on a spiritual path but feel alienated or alone as a result? 

These questions compelled me to discover my soul’s purpose–how can I show up to do my soul’s work? I often wondered what my life’s purpose was. I was raised to think that my purpose was to finish college and become a doctor so that I could live debt free. But then what? Then what do you do with the rest of your life once you’ve paid off your debts? Whatever it was, it sounded pretty empty to me.

I feel fortunate not to have adopted my mom’s idea of living a life centered around the fear of lack, but I still carried some underlying limiting beliefs about money. Slowly, I’ve worked on eliminating these limiting beliefs and it’s made way for the clarity of what was calling me.

In the search for my purpose, I received guidance from my mentors and spirit guides urging me to honor my inner child. It was so hard to mentally tell myself that it was ok to let go of the seriousness of life for just a moment.

How could I indulge in the desires of my inner child while worrying about work, bills, and the pressures of never feeling good enough in today’s society? Our inner child yearns to feel joy, so why do we suppress our true cravings? We’re conditioned to believe that we need to grow up by a certain age and live a life focused on responsibilities and obligations. I can’t remember a time when I was told that growth is  something beautiful and fun for our souls to enjoy.

It’s time to shift that serious mindset and allow ourselves to indulge in what lights us up! 

So I spent months quieting the other voices and asking my inner child, what do you want? Being creative is what shouted out at me. Nothing specific, which still made me feel so lost. Then I started to think about not only what activities were important to my inner child, but also what once filled me with joy.

When I was younger, I believed I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to be able to help people. During my junior year of college, I realized that my passion to help people through medicine didn’t truly align with what my soul was willing to show up for. I wasn’t enjoying the curriculum and could not tolerate the cutthroat realities as a medical student.

For once, I allowed myself to make a decision from my heart. At that time, I was heavily involved in organizations serving animals and decided to pursue Veterinary Medicine. I felt that I was seeing clearly for the first time.

I finished the last 2 years of college as a pre-vet student, but as I neared graduation, I realized this career choice was still influenced by my subconscious programming that told me success equated to working in medicine. After years of working on letting go of this programmed belief, I was back to square one. All I knew was that I just wanted to be of service and make a difference.

I revisited my younger self and attempted to remember what creative outlets made me happy. They were simple things: reading and writing. I devoured books, staying up until 4am reading under the covers. I gravitated toward fantasy and innocent, young adult, romance novels–cheesy, I know–but these books exercised my imagination muscles and I’d find myself creating alternative worlds in my head.

Later I would come to find that the dreams and stories we weave inside our minds established the foundation for manifesting the life of our dreams. We are the creators of our internal and external worlds! 

As the stories I read in books took me to different worlds, the realms in my dreams played out what was hiding in my subconscious. My dreams were so vivid that I would wake up wanting to return to them. I accepted the invitation to delve into my hidden thoughts and desires by expanding my dreams in an awakened state of writing. Back then I aspired to share my writing in the hopes that I’d be a published novelist. The inspiration was inside of me, fueled by my soul’s hunger to explore within.

I struggled the past few years trying to discover how I could show up in the world that would allow me to share my thoughts, be creative, and live an abundant life. Calligraphy became a major creative outlet for me when I discovered it. Perfecting the strokes and connecting them to create flowing letters became meditative. I savored the stillness of being in the moment of creating each letter. I felt encouraged to continue not only by my own devotion, but also by the praises I received. 

Dipping my toes into the calligraphy world, I followed some popular calligraphers and handletterers on Instagram as my expanders. Many of them promoted their own courses on how to hustle and get paid work. Many friends I had began learning calligraphy with now offered commissioned services. I had been practicing calligraphy for 2 years, so should I have been good enough to sell my work? Does everything I post on Instagram need to be portfolio worthy?

I realized that calligraphy changed from something I practiced for myself to something I felt pressured into turning into a business. It became too serious and didn’t resonate with me anymore. All the while my inner child was wildly waving her arms to remind me why I began in the first place.

Again, I thought about the root of why I liked posting on Instagram. Yes, of course it was for the likes. It felt rewarding when people lifted me up. Upon further reflection, I realized my favorite things to letter were quotes. Not just any quotes though, they had to truly resonate with my soul. Inspired, I found myself writing longer captions to go along with the calligraphy. I longed to connect with at least one other soul, to find resonance and offer support. 

Then it all came together for me: what I am most called to share is the writings from my soul. I want to share what I’ve learned with others who may need it. I want to let others know that they’re not alone. In a world with endless channels to discover new teachings, it’s also very alienating when you realize that it’s hard to find and engage with like-minded people in-person.

I know what it’s like to feel disconnected from everyone around you and I’d love to use my writing to connect and grow with those who feel the same way. We don’t have to feel alone in this world–we’re all connected by the light of our souls. How simple it is, yet I needed to go through this journey to see what was always there, what I have always known to love doing.

I’d love to support you on your journey and am here for you if you would like to share any thoughts. Reply in the comments or send me a DM through Instagram and let’s connect!