“The most important thing each of us can know is our unique gift and how to use it in the world. Individuality is cherished and nurtured, because, in order for the whole to flourish, each of us has to be strong in who we are and carry our gifts with conviction, so they can be shared with others.”
-Robin Wall Kimmerer – Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Everyone talks about doing “the work”… but what the fuck does it even mean?
And on top of figuring out what the hell it means…
How do we know if we’re doing it right?
I’ve been asking myself these questions for a year.
Recently I had a wild thought about “the work” that gave me such a deep sense of freedom:
Instead of struggling to subscribe to someone else’s subjective definition of “the work”…
What if each of us defined it for ourselves?
Because if I know ONE thing to be true in this world, it’s that there’s NO such thing as a one-size-fits-all path to liberation, or success, or fulfillment.
Each of us has a unique set of skills and gifts to offer. And each of us have lessons to learn and unlearn.
That’s our work.
We’re meant to uncover what ‘the work’ means to each of us.
In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “the most important thing each of us can do is to know our unique gift and how to use it in the world.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Today, I want to offer you a reframe around the concept of “the work.”
You no longer have to subscribe to other people’s definition of “the work”…
And instead, you get to focus on the work that is uniquely yours.
Take a moment and let these words sink in…
How does that reframe feel for you?
If it doesn’t feel supportive for you… no problem… I don’t expect everything I share to land with everyone.
My hope is that it feels like an invitation to get even more curious about the work that IS yours to do, as we build a new culture that prioritizes people and the planet.
Because when each of us does our own work to address our implicit biases, deprogram from extractive capitalism, and build a culture where we’re all free…
Everybody wins.
So how do we know what work is ours?
A good place to start is by answering two questions. (You can journal on them, or set up the voice recorder on your phone and talk it out to yourself.)
1. What are the lessons that you are here to learn?
2. What are the lessons that you are here to teach?
Somewhere in your answers to these two questions, there is an intersection. It’s a place where the lessons you are learning and the ones you are teaching overlap…
And that is where you will find some big clues about your unique work in the world.
Love + Liberation
Lauren Elizabeth