When we moved to Switzerland from the USA three years ago, I changed from working full-time to part-time to help our family make the transition to a new country.
I help people for a living and am fortunate that my work is my life purpose. Even with a deep connection to my work, I really enjoy working part-time. For the time being, I’ve decided to keep it that way. I don’t have the stress that I had before being a working mom. Working less allows me to be more present for my family and myself.
So, what does the thinking mind do when life is calm and happy? It conjures problems. To prove my point, I recently said to my close friend Alexa, “Maybe I should work more because Rob (my husband) has most of the financial burden. If I worked more, I could share that responsibility.” Alexa spat out her tea. (This is exactly what a good friend should do when you say something ridiculous.)
Alexa replied, “Who will share your burden of groceries, cooking, feeding and care of animals, kids’ schedules, laundry, social director…. shall I go on?” It’s true. My husband’s career is very demanding and hasn’t allowed for the flexibility mine has. I am the engineer of our family’s Operating System: Coder-In-Chief, responsible for all upgrades and bug fixes.
So, why with a full plate of responsibilities was I questioning my contribution? I had to ask myself, “Do I really believe my domestic contributions and responsibilities aren’t as valuable as a working parent?”
There is a fundamental belief in our society that says, WE ARE WHAT WE EARN. This question is not foreign to stay-at-home parents, teachers, nurses, healthcare workers, and countless other roles in society that are critical but not well-compensated.
When I was working full-time in the USA, I had a firm belief that domestic contributions in a household were as important as financial contributions. My belief was tested as my financial contribution diminished. We’ve all had that happen. We hold an opinion or belief about something and then we have a direct experience (new data) that informs our opinion or belief and with it brings a new perspective.
Whatever your contributions are to society, don’t buy the lie. You are not what you earn, you are so much more.
Do you know what your purpose and passion is in life? Every one of us wants to feel as though our life matters. We want our time spent on earth to be meaningful and for the world to be a better place for us having lived in it. I started Live Your Jam because I wanted to inspire and help people live a life of meaning. (Jam = Passion + Skills)
Jam is our skills applied to our passion. It gives us meaning which is essential for our survival. A question we have all asked is, “What is a meaningful life?” Because we are each unique, the answer varies for all of us. The poet Rumi says, “Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” That “particular work” is our Jam.
Mother Nature has been the single greatest healer and inspiration to me in my life. She has been critical to Living my Jam because there’s nothing more conducive to intuitive thinking than alone time outdoors. I love being outside and walking through the trees. I began hiking years ago and have hiked all over the world. I’m incredibly fortunate to live in an area that has many beautiful state and local parks. My greatest pleasure is walking alone in nature because it’s the quiet of nature that allows me to slow down and access my highest-self. We all need a practice that slows us down and brings us closer to ourselves. These practices are conduits that help us access ourselves and our true inner knowing. From here, we can Discover our Jam, Live our Jam and Spread our Jam.
