Happy Tuesday! Let me tell you, Monday was not one of my best days. I did get some things done, but my goodness, it felt like the longest day! Between work, volunteer work and personal and professional development, my life gets somewhat exhausting sometimes, but the good news is that everything I’m doing, I do it with joy and purpose.

I have heard some people say that I do too many things, that I work too much or that I volunteer too much, but honestly I enjoy it. I may over schedule sometimes (that’s not a good a thing though), but it’s usually periods of times that work and volunteering may be busy during the same time. My point is if you enjoy what you do, you should continue to do it and brush off people’s comments because well, they don’t know your life and may not understand your goals.

This takes me to my final post on purpose. How do you know you have found it? How do you find it? What to do with it? Honestly, I don’t know how to find it. I found it because I search things until I find them and not everyone is like that, but you should never settle for less. Curiosity can take you to great places, we just have to be brave to follow it. Yes, life circumstances can get in the way, but honestly the way to what you are finding can be just as great and I think that’s where your lessons and memories come from.

After college, I sort of landed in the event industry, but I worked very hard and continue to work to be better at what I do. It took a lot of uncomfortable interactions. Since I was trying to find a job and didn’t have experience in the event industry, I completed an event management certificate at a local University. In addition to attending the classes during my off days, I had to complete several volunteer hours in the industry. Through the classes, I learned about MPI Potomac which is the organization I currently volunteer at and decided to become a student member. Obviously, the company I worked at wouldn’t pay for a full membership at an organization that didn’t have much to do at all with the current responsibilities I had then, so I was happy to find out that I could become a student member and pay a fraction of the actual membership fee. At the organization, they hosted educational and networking events and let me tell you, walk up to a group of people that you don’t know and start small talk is the worst! haha but I literally convinced myself that that was the only way to get me in the industry and it worked. Shortly after, I found a job and the rest is history!

If you feel very strongly about something, be brave to continue to pursue it! My track sounds like it was somewhat easy, but it wasn’t. I really had to come out of my comfort zone, talk myself up in front of suppliers and event planners and show them that talking to me wasn’t a waste of time because let’s be honest, if you are not trying to find business, create partnerships or catching up with a industry friends, what are you even doing there?

I do feel like I’m always searching for something and I don’t know if that is a good thing or not, but I do know that I want to be better at what I do and have aspirations. Sometimes my career plans change slightly, still within the industry, but they do change sometimes and I think that is okay as long as you have a plan. What is the reason for doing what you are doing? What is the end goal? How is it going to serve you? Some things to keep in mind when you are confused about where to go when you are in between ideas.

With all that to think about, I will end with a final question: Are you more afraid of being stuck where you are or to step into the unknown?

Let me know your thoughts or share your path to your purpose!

With love,

Natalie