27 Purpose-Driven Hobbies for Stay at Home Moms
Have you ever wondered why and how people over the span of millions of years and living in every possible location on our enormous planet have a desire in their heart to find their purpose for living?
I know I have! I find people fascinating. I see so many variations of similar gifts and talents, each expressed so uniquely through different people. I love seeing the moment someone finally connects with their purpose. The subject of purpose is a bit of a passion for me.
And speaking of passion, have you ever wondered what the difference is between passion and purpose? Are they the same thing? Is one better than the other? Is one Godly and the other some new age counterfeit as some have said? Are they at odds with each other or working together?
Passion has become somewhat of a buzzword lately. Everyone telling us to do what we’re passionate about and to follow our passion. But the idea of pursuing your passion has been given passion a bad rap by some people who favor the path of purpose over passion. It can really be confusing, right?
I’m a HUGE fan of passion and want to set the record straight on what it is and how it differs from purpose. And why we need to know and pursue both! Here goes…
Purpose and Passion Simplified
Our purpose is the overarching reason we were created by God and put on this planet. Yes, in case you didn’t get it the first time, you were created for a reason. Purpose is like your assignment, and we all have one.
You can look at it this way, your purpose is the big picture and it unfolds like a scroll – unrolling and revealing itself throughout your lifetime. We walk in and fulfill our purpose by moving forward on the ideas, promptings, and passions He gives us along the way.
As we progress through the seasons of our lives and every stage of our motherhood journey, there are opportunities to walk in our purpose and mature in our destiny. All while still raising our families. That purpose will take many forms along the way depending on where we are in our lives at the time.
As we progress through life we develop passions for causes, business ideas, books to write, groups of people, or projects to bring to life. This is where the magic happens and our passions are able to work in tandem with our gifts and talents – all to fulfill our purpose.
It’s our selfless passions that propel us into our purpose. They’re the doorway to our destiny and the good life God promised us all.
Is Your Passion Selfless?
If you have a passion, a hobby you love, a group you enjoy volunteering with, or a business or blog you want to start – ask yourself one question. How does this pursuit benefit others?
If your “passion” is totally self-serving like making lots of money and it doesn’t have any connection to your heart, talents, or purpose on any level – then I would stop calling it a passion right now.
There’s nothing wrong with making money or working jobs that only serve to pay the bills, but don’t confuse your heart by calling it a passion. Just call it a job and leave it at that.
How to Launch into Your Purpose-driven Life
To launch into your purpose-driven life, you must start by paying attention to the little things like activities you naturally gravitate toward or ones that excite you. Those things you have a gift or talent to do. Issues or situations that really bother you or break your heart on a level that’s greater than most other people are also powerful clues to reveal purpose.
Too often we ignore those little promptings in our heart. I believe this happens a lot because those little things are unique to you, and all the people around you aren’t “getting on board” or simply don’t understand.
Your purpose requires you to be unique and most often go against the grain. This isn’t easy to do but is something you must learn to work with if you’re even going to live a thriving, purpose-filled life.
Related: 12 Attributes of Goal-Setting Moms
The Real Struggle with Purpose
The other reason people don’t jump right out and pursue their passion is that they’re often already a “responsible adult” with a family and a career by the time they realize there’s more. And with all that adulting going on, there’s very little time for anything else! If you’re a crazy busy mom like me, you know how hard it is to start anything else.
The good news is, God only requires that we make our purpose a priority and He promises to lead us into that purpose. And He will through the various passions we talked about earlier. All we need to do is say yes and start doing something.
We can have confidence that His leadings will always provide more peace, joy, and balance in our lives than if we did it on our own. That means that though our “plate” may be overflowing right now, He’ll show us the way to fulfill His plans and manage the rest in the process.
He’ll also show you how to gracefully cut away those things in our lives that we shouldn’t be doing anyway that suck up all our time and energy.
I’m a HUGE, HUGE fan of carving a small piece of our day to pursue your passion. It doesn’t matter what it is. Even if all you have is one hour a day! If you have more – that’s awesome but if you don’t that’s OK. My favorite product I’ve created so far is a bit of a passion project for me.
Now let’s get in the list of 27 easy ways to pursue your passion as a crazy busy mom:
- Find blogs that talk about your passion. Bookmark them and read them on a weekly basis. Comment on those posts and get active in that community of people.
- Read many books on that topic. Get them free at the library.
- Take a class. If you have a passion for photography, take a class on how to best use your camera.
- Join a group in your area that meets regularly. For example, if your passion is writing, join a local writers group.
- Give yourself office hours. Don’t just say I’m going to work this one hour a day. Give yourself actual office hours that everyone knows about and sit down and work.
- Start a small group at your church or a volunteer group in your community.
- Create a gofundme account to ignite momentum for your cause and make an impact.
- Create a prayer journal and use the power of prayer to make change. Don’t underestimate this one.
- Write a book about it.
- Build awareness about your passion by talking to similar influencers in your local community or online. Build genuine relationships and see how you can collaborate.
- Go to conferences that share ideas on your topic.
- Join a small group in your church or community.
- Start a blog.
- Do regular Facebook Live videos to talk about your passion and connect with others like you.
- File the papers to make your idea a business or actual non-profit.
- Find a group/individual that’s already doing what you want to do and ask them to mentor you. Volunteer to serve with them and learn.
- Use all your knowledge and teach a class to others.
- Create a simple tutorial and share it.
- Start a program and offer it as an internship to college students.
- Start a petition to change something that’s broken and get signatures.
- Research online courses on your subject and purchase their course.
- Create a business plan for exactly what you want to accomplish and how you’re going to do it.
- Start a regular teleconference to share your insight with a group of eager listeners.
- Write your thoughts in a journal every day to track and encourage your progress.
- Offer your services for free for a season.
- Create a kid-friendly version (if possible) and teach this skill to your child’s class at school or church.
- Start a podcast.
It doesn’t take much to get started. If you pray and ask the Purpose-Giver what you can do, just be ready for the answer. Your purpose-driven life is right around the corner. You just have to start walking.
Oh, and when you’ve hit obstacles and opposition along the way – you know you’re in the right place! Just keep walking and you’ll make it through.
Which of the above numbers inspired you? If you’re brave enough, share your number in the comments below. We need to encourage one another to live our very best lives.
