Have you ever felt like you were too big, and then you played small?
Like your dreams were too big and you were safer, and felt more understood, if you just didn’t dream as big.
Or maybe you have too much energy, want to accomplish too much, have too many passions, or even talk too much and too loud.
I gotcha girl. I have been there, and am often still there. It is a space I need to consistently be intentional to stay out of.
You see, we should never be afraid of being too big, or to own the value that we were created to have and that we bring to this world. We were made on purpose, bringing our divinely designed talents, gifts, skills, and personality to accomplish great things. Those great things are different for each one of us. We were not created to be a copy cat of anyone else or to look like anyone else. Even those we are “so much alike” have some differences and beauty of diversity.
Sometimes it is our perception of what those great things are that can keep us living small. We may have dreams we haven’t figured out or clarified yet, and a million passions that we have not defined or mapped out.
We may feel that those closest to us don’t understand our dreams and passions, so we hold back. We may feel that they think we are dreaming too big, that we shouldn’t aspire so much. I mean, shouldn’t we just be content and happy where we are and be thankful for what we do have?
Living your life boldly, in alignment with the passions and values you were created with is living in gratitude. Living held back does not reflect gratitude, and develops discontentment.
You were made with a purpose and for a purpose. You were called to live big.
Living big will mean something different for each person. There is a difference between someone knowing their life purpose and living that with clarity and confidence and someone who is not sure and falls into the trap of always feeling like she should be doing more.
A young Mom who is clear on who she was called to be and is living that forward with the passion God has given her for those little humans is living bigger than a CEO who has not discovered their purpose and is working all hours of the day trying to be someone they think they should be.
Living small is living in a way that is holding yourself back from those dreams and passions that God has placed on your heart to please yourself or those around you.
We hear on social media and in the culture we live in the different opinions of either the “indulgence” of dreaming big or not dreaming big enough and going after your dreams. So what is the balance for us? The balance is knowing who we were made to be and living that in action and with intention out of gratitude for the passions and potential we have been given.
What I find most often is that we hold back. We live small when we are called to live big. We do not dream and go after living the best version of us that we can.
You don’t have to be Gordie Howe to be great, you just have to own your unique talents, skills and passions – Murray Howe (Gordie Howe’s son)