Learn: What Makes You Come Alive?

“Our talents are our birthright gifts, the gifts that make our hearts sing, come alive.”

—Rebecca Lyons, You are Free

When was the last time you felt alive? When did you last feel your heart beating with excitement in your chest?—When you felt more awake than you do on a Venti Caramel Macchiato with an extra shot? Or, when whatever made you feel this way, had you smiling for days?

Have you ever felt like this?

No, I am not talking about falling in love—or at least, about falling in love with a person. I am asking about the last time you felt truly passionate about doing or being a part of something.

Maybe it came upon you slowly. You tried something new, and after a few classes or tries, you realized, you were good at it. Or perhaps it happened by accident—someone needed a favor or you were in the right place at the right time. You said, “Yes,” to doing something random and it became a big part of your life.

Discovering the things we were made to do is an incredible feeling. Only, we don’t always find out what these things are. So often we identify our talents and passions by accident, that we don’t know how to actually be purposeful about finding them. But, over the years, I have found a few things that have helped me and other people I know, uncover the things that make them feel alive, and today I want to share them with you.

On Monday, I shared that we have all been created to be artists in some way. Whether we have discovered it within ourselves or not, creativity is a part of our identity. And finding out our unique expression of creativity—our talents—is crucial to living a full and meaningful life. So, if you want to feel fully alive, and be able to express all you have been created for, try one of The Four T’s to Identifying Your Talents and Passions:

Talk to the people closest to you

Ask them what you are good at. Sometimes we take our talents for granted and don’t realize how useful or important they are. Ask your friends what makes your face light up. When I was in college, and I’d tell my friends about my experiences volunteering in youth ministry, often they would say, “Whenever you talk about your students your face lights up.” It was one of my first clues to figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. Look for where things make you excited in your life.

Think back

Think back to when you were in junior high and high school, and try to remember what you enjoyed and what you were involved in. These things may hold a few clues. Did you get excited about student government? Maybe there is a local council or organization that could use your help. Were you in drama? Maybe community theater is a possibility. Did you love your soccer or basketball team? Perhaps you could start or become a part of a league.

Try new things

At times it can be hard to put ourselves in potentially awkward, risk-taking adventures. It can be scary, sometimes we don’t want to do it alone, or we don’t even know where to begin. The important thing though is to take steps—even small ones—towards the unknown. Try a new recipe for food from an entirely different culture. Take a class that is offered in your community for something that looks interesting. Or surf Pinterest and get crafty.

Try Again

Sometimes when we try new things we are awkward or really bad at it at first. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t our thing. When I first learned how to bake bread there were times where I used too much flour and other times when I ended up with something like cake batter rather than dough. Being good at something doesn’t mean we don’t have to learn how to do it or put in hours of practice. Give a new thing enough time to be able to tell if you like it enough to learn to love it.