What Makes You Come Alive

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
- Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman

Many people go into leadership and/or nonprofits or helping work because they see the NEED. The need is immense, and we want to help. Helping is a very good thing, but I know so many who have sacrificed their identity and wholeness trying to meet the need. In many cultural contexts this form of sacrifice is glorified, but the sacrificial person is not healthy.

Leadership and service that cannibalize our health and well-being are not sustainable.

In order to lead and serve sustainably - meaning, leading and serving from a place of health - we  have to know what work really aligns with who we are. This is what Dr. Thurman references when he says “what makes you come alive.” When we find the things that fill us up, that light our fire, that align with the core of who we are, leadership and service can become filling rather than draining.

We still need breaks. We still need healthy rhythms of rest, play, and work.
But rather than trying to change who we are in order to meet a need, let's try (when possible) to align our work with what makes us come alive.