{"id":23850,"date":"2018-01-03T08:39:10","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T13:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=23850"},"modified":"2018-01-03T08:39:12","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T13:39:12","slug":"dont-retire-refire-what-is-your-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=23850","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Retire, ReFire: What is your mission?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gail Supplee Tatum<\/strong>, Columnist, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Happy New Year!\u00a0 Does the New Year excite you?\u00a0 Does it scare you?\u00a0 Do you ask yourself, \u201cWhat is my mission going to be?\u00a0 What am I going to do, in the coming year, if anything, to improve my health, my relationships, my finances, my work, and\/or any other aspect of my life?\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you ask others the same questions, in order to possibly find inspiration or maybe to find someone who shares the same sentiment as you, positive or negative.\u00a0 If it\u2019s positive, then I will fuel your fire.\u00a0 If it\u2019s negative, my hope is that something in this article will give you food for thought.\u00a0 Is your mission a continuation of what you started last year or longer ago?\u00a0 What does that mean for you?\u00a0 Is it just another year or do you approach the New Year, like you did as you prepared for the first day of a new school year, with anticipation and excitement about what lies ahead.\u00a0 You probably bought new clothes, new shoes and new school supplies. You felt like you could conquer the world! When you feel confident and good about yourself, you can go to that meet-up, or interview and know that you look good which translates to your performance.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need the turning of a new year to set goals or follow through on something(s) that you\u2019ve been putting off.\u00a0 A new year is the time that most do set out to \u201cturn over a new leaf\u201d.\u00a0 No matter where you are in the enormous realm of possibilities, you must start by knowing you have a purpose to fulfill here on earth.\u00a0 You have a mission.\u00a0 Your mission can be small and subtle or big and audacious. There is only one thing for certain, it must be your own.\u00a0 In order to know that, you must know yourself.\u00a0\u00a0 Being true to yourself and knowing who you are and what you stand for is the first step towards greatness.<\/p>\n

To assist you in opening your mind to the possibility of who you are and what your mission is, consider and answer for yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. If money were not an object, what would you be doing? If you could wake up in the morning, spring to your feet, excited for the day, and do what brings joy and fulfillment to you and others, what would that look like?\u00a0 It may take you just a moment to answer that question or it may take a little while to think that through.\u00a0 This answer will help you identify who you are and what you stand for.<\/li>\n
  2. Recollect times when you were not being true to yourself, where you went against your intuition and just \u201cplayed it safe\u201d, because you didn\u2019t want to \u201cmake waves\u201d or make someone angry. In that moment, by playing it safe, you found that it didn\u2019t make you feel better.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, it made you feel bad about yourself.\u00a0 Now, go back to those times and replay the situation and what it would have looked like if you took a stand for yourself and expressed your difference of opinion.\u00a0 How did taking a stand for yourself and being bold and fearless feel?<\/li>\n
  3. Live in gratitude. Gratitude for where you are right now.\u00a0 Stand quietly in that space and let your inner voice rise up and speak to you.\u00a0 Find time, each day, if only for a moment and give thanks for little things and for big things.\u00a0 I\u2019m thankful for my health, my family, my close friends and for a roof over my head to keep me warm and safe. Sometimes, as we acknowledge our blessings and show gratitude, we open our hearts to the world around us.\u00a0 Is there something you see where you can contribute?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I can speak to this subject very well because for most of my life, I played it safe.\u00a0 Knowing who I am and what I stand for, in the last 8 years and doing what I was put on this earth to do has made these last 8 years, the best of my life.\u00a0 It\u2019s better late than never but my advice to you is to know yourself and know your power sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

    To quote Oprah Winfrey \u2013 \u201cCheers to a new year and another chance to get it right!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Gail Supplee Tatum, Columnist, The Times Happy New Year!\u00a0 Does the New Year excite you?\u00a0 Does it scare you?\u00a0 Do you ask yourself, \u201cWhat is my mission going to be?\u00a0 What am I going to do, in the coming year, if anything, to improve my health, my relationships, my finances, my work, and\/or any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6269,2501,1255,1735],"class_list":["post-23850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-featured","tag-new-year","tag-planning","tag-retirement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23851,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23850\/revisions\/23851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}