For as long as I can remember I’ve been a nerdy quote girl and used 5 quotes in a talk I gave last weekend. I had the opportunity to connect with amazing people from the Chicago fitness scene last Saturday at MaZi Dance Fitness. We co-hosted an event with Carbon38 for one of their #team38 meet-ups and the afternoon consisted of a ballet class by my sister and business partner and a talk by me about the subject of the day; “Igniting Passion”.
When I first heard the suggested topic, I was excited! My life has been driven by passion; dancing, business, family, fashion. As I tried to figure out how to frame the conversation to this elite group of people I was struck how they too (being fitness professionals) must face passion and it’s delicate handling. Passion is really easy to “ignite”, a lot tougher to sustain, and can be difficult to manage, these are the 5 quotes that spoke to me for this purpose:
THE THINGS YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT ARE NOT RANDOM, THEY ARE YOUR CALLING
Sometimes in the wonderful world of quotes, I see “if you do your passion, you won’t have to work a day in your life”. Um, false. I believe that expression does us all a disservice and sets up unrealistic expectations. A calling, by definition, is something that you MUST do, not because it’s easy, but because it’s your purpose and you’ve been given the gifts to accomplish it. That doesn’t mean the road will be seamless or that you will never have to do things you are not “passionate” about. On the contrary, because you are so passionate about these things is the reason you are able to do impossible things and things that you would rather not do. Think about love, motherhood or business.
USE WHAT YOU HAVE, DO WHAT YOU CAN
When we are passionate about something, we are excited to get started but not sure if we should because the timing is not right. Plus, wouldn’t it be better to start once we got our income tax return or lost 10 pounds or were finally in a relationship? The thing is life is short and you don’t have the time that you think you have. You have to start today and pretend as if you have all the tools that you would to be successful. The lack of having them will make you supremely creative. The best analogy I can think of is when I see people delaying coming to MaZi Dance Fitness, because they need to lose weight first! Remember, the grass always seems greener on the other side……..which takes me to….
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE NEVER WORRY ABOUT WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING
If you are constantly looking over to see what others are doing that is wasting precious energy from you doing what you’re meant to be doing. Should you understand what your peers and other industry leaders are doing? Sure. However, when we are constantly comparing ourselves to others we are always going to feel like we’re not ready to make the leap or that we clearly don’t have what we need or takes, and can’t possibly use what we have. More importantly, we are different and can only improve ourselves. Someone is going to have better abs, be smarter, have a better wardrobe,…….take inspiration from others and run with it, don’t be crippled by it.
NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO LOVE YOU
This is hard. We want others to like what we are doing. As I get older, I feel increasingly more at peace with accepting the fact that with some people, no matter what, they are not gonna love what I’m doing. If you’re a fitness instructor, a teacher, a sales person, a blogger, anything…..you’re gonna get people that flat out not only not like what you’re about, but openly criticize (hello YELP!) and that ok. I truly believe that when people criticize you, it’s not about you, it’s about them. So MOVE on.
DON’T STAY IN YOUR LANE
Many times, people in our lives put us in neat little compartments or boxes that they’d like us to be in and stay in. “She’s an engineer”, “She’s a stay-at-home mom”, “She’s an artist”, “She’s _____”,! We are allowed to switch lanes, we’re allowed to say, this is not for me anymore, or this IS for me now. And guess what? Some people are not going to be happy because it’s uncomfortable for them, it shouldn’t be, but it is. At the end of the day, if you have this calling, this passion, you have to mute out the noise and go for it. Even if you stay in the box that people want you to remain in, it doesn’t guarantee that it will make them happy. Therefore, you have to make YOU happy.
What is your passion? Has it been a constant in your life? What are some mantras that you live by? XO, Z
Pictures by Meghan Weber Lipton
My outfit is last year’s Anthropologie dream dress, but they have a new version this year with all the same dreamy effects!
