What is Your Why?
The world is obsessed with the what and the how, but I am falling in love with the why.
As I look around, a lot of times, what I see is a large amount of people searching desperately for the next "what" - the next thing to fulfill their lives, to do better, to get more, be more, do more - and how they are going to get there. We want the newest gadgets like those around us, want to listen to the latest hits, want the best position in our career. And we scour books and the web to do it - I mean, there's literally sites like WikiHow and eHow, with thousands of articles that give you step-by-step instructions for basically anything you could ever want to do. I'm not exaggerating people. Google "How to Act Like a Mermaid at School." It's real.
The problem is, we get caught up in a whirlwind that we so easily lose control of - and we eventually lose ourselves. We no longer stop to find the reason behind wanting something - we just yearn for it more. And more. And more.
This is where the why comes in.
After running down myself day by day over joining new groups, researching and investing time into a business, and trying to figure out what in the world to do with my life, I realized I was asking the wrong questions. Instead of pounding my head against the wall to figure out what to do, I needed to ask why I wanted to do anything at all.
You see, when you find the why, you've found purpose. And that is something that cannot be easily ripped out of your grasp. It's something that drives you much more than that new position of leadership that you've been pining for, or even choosing the "perfect major" to suit you. It will drag you out of bed in early, dreary mornings and keep you running even when everyone else around you has seemed to have given up. And when plans change and life seems to completely flip backwards - that why will still be standing strong and unshaken by the chaos.
So. What's my why? More specifically, what is my why with this photography business?
Well, I sat down and really thought it out. And here's what I came up with:
To draw attention to the incredible beauty that God masterfully created.
To serve others by capturing important, real moments in their lives and encouraging them as I do so.
To fervently show God's love best through my passion and joy of art.
With these small reasons, I have a whole new plan. It may not be fully-thought out, and it probably won't end up exactly how I imagined it. But I'm going to keep running this race - with this why in mind - and I won't be giving up as easily this time.
I encourage all of you to seriously sit down and ask why. Why do you do what you do? Why do you want what you want? Share your thoughts and comments below or on my pages - I'd love to hear from you.