The thought of doing work in the world that makes a difference is so infatuating.
What I mean by ‘infatuating’ is that we get so highly focused on the upsides that we can barely see the downsides.
Almost like getting in a relationship with someone who seems to be the best potential partner to ever live, only to realize that they had a dark shadow you couldn’t quite see.
I think the same applies to soul-led work.
The reality is that most people underestimate what doing work that is aligned with your soul demands in a world that teaches you to be a cog in a machine.
Most people are completely out of touch with what it takes to make a decent living doing it, let alone be prosperous. Yet I see an increasing number feeling called to make the leap.
Most people are totally unaware of the sheer amount of introspection, expansion and self-belief that will be needed to stand behind something that is inspired by your soul when adversity emerges.
And most people burn out and crash because they get so obsessed with the idea of selflessness that they forget or even refuse to pour into themselves.
I often call it selflessness driven by guilt or shame around receiving.
These are things that eventually cause you to resent what your soul is asking of you.
Your soul-led mission is a mystery school.
That’s at the very least what I keep discovering.
What initially appears to be something that you are creating reveals itself as something that is creating you… at the very least, if you are listening.
Your mission is constantly saying:
“Let me mold you into who I need you to be, so that you can carry me into the world.”
And the curriculum is revealed progressively. I think a genuine calling rarely reveals the whole map, even though the ultimate vision may feel clear at times.
You receive an instruction, and you must act on it before the next chamber opens.
You couldn’t have possibly understood lesson 7 while standing at the door of lesson 1 because the person capable of comprehending lesson 7 did not exist yet.
And as you embrace the initiations, you get to face your insecurities and core fears. You get to collapse any feeling of unworthiness you have around being the bright light your mission deserves. You get to dissolve the identity you built around being an apprentice savior who wants to rescue the whole world.
Some of the questions your mission will ask you to answer clearly…
What part of you must die for the mission to fully live?
What gift are you still relating to as if you need permission to fully embody it?
What level of visibility is your mission asking you to be capable of holding?
What would you have to believe about the value of your work to allow yourself to be generously compensated for the service you provide? (That is, if you serve others.)
What parts of you that you were conditioned to see as unlovable is your mission asking you to fall unapologetically in love with?
I could go on and on with these questions… Because the deeper I go into this work, the more I am convinced that building a life around your calling demands a totally different relationship with your mission.
You cannot just ask: “How can I make this successful?”
You also have to ask:
Who is this asking me to become?
What capacity is this asking me to develop?
What parts of me I once rejected is this asking me to love?
What identity can no longer come with me?
And what structures do I need to build so that I can carry this work without sacrificing myself?
This is just some of what it takes to embrace the mystery school that your soul-led work is, and to take your impact out of the shadow.
I am actually preparing a free live experience around this idea. Taking your impact out of the shadow and the mystery school of your mission.
I want to explore the inner workings of building a life and livelihood around soul-led work. From visibility, wrestling with the shadow, receiving and money, to leadership, self-belief and self-esteem, capacity, and the structures required to make your mission sustainable.
Comment below or reply with “INTERESTED” if this is something you’d want to know more about.
For now, maybe this is a final question to ponder.
What is something that your mission is currently trying to teach you that you keep interpreting as a problem?
Thank you for being here and for reading.
In gratitude,
Xavier
So good. Thank you!
Interested