Note from Crystal: I’m so honored to have my friend, Claire, guest posting here today. I’ve known Claire for almost five years and she’s been such a blessing and inspiration to me. I think you’ll be inspired by her post — and you’ll definitely want to check out her new book, Hope Runs!
Growing up, my mother had a favorite phrase: Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.
That motto (which is now her email signature) has informed many of the choices she makes in life, and it’s also proved relevant to me. Indeed, I’m a passionate person. I work hard, I play hard, and in all areas of life I try to be passionate about what I’m doing — otherwise I just don’t think it’s worth much of my time!
Although I work outside the home, run a popular business blog, and have a family, I also have a passion for Kenya and AIDS orphans. Starting a nonprofit and joining my life with my foster son have been tangible outputs of this “outside” passion. Recently, this passion culminated in the publication of our new book: Hope Runs: An American Tourist, A Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption.
Ultimately, my experience has convinced me of the importance of cultivating a passion outside of your workplace, home life, or daily grind. In truth, I believe it’s essential to helping you find and maintain a fulfilling life.
Here are three reasons I believe you need an outside passion:
1. An Outside Passion Will Fuel You — Not Drain You
The problem with my mother’s motto (“anything worth doing is worth overdoing“), is burnout. The reason that many of us don’t pursue outside passions in our life is because we’re already overwhelmed with what we are doing already, and we think adding on one more thing will do us in. (To better understand our state of overwhelm, Crystal’s book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, should be your first stop.)
In reality, though, outside passions are the exact thing we need to become more energized, happy, and fulfilled. By adding in something to our lives that makes us feel excited, our perspective on our whole life can and will change.
2. You’ll Find Time for Your Passion
We all have 168 hours in a week, and most of us feel like that’s not enough to get done what we need to do. But, if you’re like me, even during the busiest times you usually find moments to do your favorite thing (whether it’s going for a run, having a cup of tea during a morning quiet time, talking with your best friend on the phone, or logging onto Facebook!).
The same is true of an outside passion. No matter how strapped you are for time, if you are truly passionate about an activity, you’ll find the time.
3. Your Outside Passion Will Open Your World to New Opportunities, and Will Encourage You to Share Your Passion
One of the great benefits of an outside passion is that it broadens your world beyond the day-to-day. In my case, an outside passion for Africa and AIDS orphans means that every day I orchestrate and participate in activities and relationships that are outside of my regular daily life of work and family.
Over time, I have felt so fulfilled by this that I have sought to share my passion, in order to bring in more of these relationships and activities. This, in turn, creates a cycle of even more fulfillment.
Once you make time for your passion, you’ll realize how important it is, and will want to share it with others. In honor of the culmination of one of my passions, I’m giving away a free ebook on the power of sharing our passions with the world that you can download here.
We all have “outside” passions we might like to do more of, whether knitting, swimming, coin collecting, studying French, volunteering, or something else. Unfortunately, most of us think we can’t pursue these interests — because they don’t fit into our current life, because we already have too much going on, or because we aren’t sure we can find the time. In reality, though, making time for these passions is essential to building the healthy lives we seek.
Take this post as a call to arms to go ahead and pick up your passion. Find that new or neglected interest of yours and carve out time to make it a part of your daily life. With time, you’ll find an even healthier, happier you hidden inside!
Do you have an outside passion you’re yearning to pursue? What is it? Can you take one baby step today to start pursuing it?
Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@claire) is an author, speaker, and Silicon Valley innovator who was an early employee at Twitter. Named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, she holds an MBA and other degrees from Stanford and Oxford and has been featured widely in print and broadcast media. She writes a popular blog at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com and is the author of the new book, Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption.
Would you like to win a copy of Claire’s new book, Hope Runs?
Sammy Ikua Gachagua had lost his father to illness, his mother to abandonment, and his home to poverty. By age ten, he was living in a shack with seven other children and very little food. He entered an orphanage seeing it as a miracle with three meals a day, a bed to sleep in, and clothes on his back.
When Claire Diaz-Ortiz arrived in Kenya at the end of an around-the-world journey, she decided to stay the night, climb Mt. Kenya, then head back home. She entered an orphanage seeing it as little more than a free place to spend the night before her mountain trek. God had other plans.
Hope Runs is the emotional story of an American tourist, a Kenyan orphan, and the day that would change the course of both of their lives forever. It’s about what it means to live in the now when the world is falling down around you. It’s about what it means to hope for the things you cannot see. Most of all, it’s about how God can change your life in the blink of an eye.
Would you like to win a copy of Hope Runs? Just click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. Ten winners will be chosen and posted early next week. This giveaway ends Sunday, June 1, at 11:59 pm, CST.
photo credit
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As I got into the car last Saturday to head to the airport from the Florida Homeschool Conference, I got a text from my mom letting me know that one of my sister’s and brother-in-law’s really close friends had been killed in a tragic accident.
While I didn’t personally know this couple, my heart has hurt so much for this young wife and mom of four who lost her husband so unexpectedly and tragically. I cannot imagine the pain, the shock, the anguish, the gaping hole left by her husband’s death.
My mom told me today that his funeral on Wednesday was one of the most meaningful services she’d ever attended. Why? Because this man had lived wholeheartedly embracing every moment of life.
He had almost died from a serious illness a few years before. This illness took his eyesight, but instead of lamenting the fact that he had lost his sight, he spent the last few years of his life living every day to the fullest — pouring himself into people and loving people well.
One of my dear friends who just recently had surgery to remove part of her tongue and lymph nodes in an effort to beat her throat cancer told me (my paraphrase), “You can’t look death in the face and not be changed. You stop worrying about petty things. You stop letting misunderstandings and differences hurt relationships. And you start loving people well. Because you don’t know how many days you have left on this earth and you don’t want to waste a single one.”
Her example of living each day to its fullest has challenged me deeply. And it’s convicted me of how often I let busyness get in the way of loving well.
Moving to Tennessee was a major milestone for me. I drew a line in the sand and said, “From here on out, I want to wholeheartedly embrace the life God has given me. I’ve spent too many years stuffing problems under the rug instead of dealing with them in a healthy way. I’ve spent too many years of my life chasing productivity instead of making people and community a priority. I’ve spent too many years trying to please people instead of being who God has called me to be.”
It’s been a month of fully embracing life and I wouldn’t go back to my former self for anything. I’ve made deep relationships. I’ve become more spontaneous. I’ve laughed harder than I have in ages. And I’ve discovered that people are completely okay with my sometimes-messy, very imperfect self.
It’s been a beautiful journey and it’s only begun. Will you join me? Let’s fully embrace today… because we don’t know if there is a tomorrow.
P.S. Would you please join me in praying for this dear woman who has lost her husband and these four young children who have lost their daddy? If you want to do something to help this woman and her four children out practically or financially, please email me (crystal @ moneysavingmom.com) and I’ll share some specific ways you can help them out.
I’d also like ask for prayer for my sister, Gretchen, and her husband, as you can probably imagine how difficult this has been for them, too. She does a lot to make MoneySavingMom.com what it is — running the Stores Deals section and sharing her shopping trips and weekly menu plans — and I’d love it if we could all come around her and support her in this time of grief. If you’d like to send a note to her to let her know you’re praying for her, you can email it to me, as well (crystal @ moneysavingmom.com) and I’ll make sure she gets it. Thank you all so very much!
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Note from Crystal: My oldest sister, Brigette, lives in South Carolina with her husband and four young children. I asked her recently if she’d start sharing her shopping trips here since she’s an amazing bargain-shopper and has some different stores in her area than Gretchen and I do. Enjoy!
Harris Teeter
1 Romaine Lettuce – $0.99
1 Red Leaf Lettuce – $0.99
Zucchini squash (2.30lbs @ $0.99/lb) – $2.28
Chicken Leg Quarters (5.75lbs @ $0.69/lb) – $3.97
5 Dozen Eggs ($1.25/dozen) – $6.25
3 Boxes Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese – $1.10 each, used 3 $0.35/1 printable coupon from their website - $0.40 each after coupons
2 Boxes Horizon Organic Macaroni and Cheese – $1.50 each – used -$0.55/1 Horizon mac & cheese printable - $0.40 each after coupons (they were all out of the boxes that were on sale for $1 each and would have been free)
3 Boxes (4-ct) Hunt’s Snack Pudding – $1 each – used $0.75 off any THREE (3) Snack Pack Pudding 4ct - $0.50 each after coupons (my husband can use these in his daily sack lunches at work.)
1 Picsweet Steamers Green Beans – $1, used -$0.50/1 from the 3/02 Red Plum insert – free after coupon
1 Silk Almond Milk – $3, used $1 off Silk Almond, half gallon printable, plus $1 Harris Teeter eCoupon - $1 after coupons
2 Bags Santitas Corn Chips – $2 each, used $1 off of $3 salty snack purchase (BI-LO catalina coupon) – $1.50 each after coupon
Used $3 off of $30 total purchase (BI-LO catalina coupon)
Total after sales and coupons: $16.46
WalMart (We were already there to pick up something, so I price-matched a couple of Aldi’s produce prices while we were there.)
3 Avocados @ $0.69 each – $2.07
1 Pineapple – $1.19
1 5lb bag of Flour – $1.68
2 Gallons Milk ($3.98 each) – $7.96
Total: $12.90
BI-LO (They were out of most things I went for, unfortunately.)
1 Large Box Honey Nut Cheerios – $3, used $0.50/1 General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios or Honey Nut Medley Crunch Cereal - $2 after coupon (not a good price, but my husband likes cereal for weekday breakfasts, and we were out!)
5 Yoplait 100-Calorie Greek Yogurt Cups – $3 (must buy in sets of 5 for this price), used Bi-Lo eCoupon, plus SavingStar (EXP 05/31) eCoupon - $1 for 5 after coupons and SavingStar
1 Half Gallon Minute Maid Orange Juice – marked down to $2.49
1 (4-pk) YoCrunch Chips Ahoy Yogurt – marked down to $2.29, used $0.75/1 printable - $0.79 after coupon
Total after sales and coupons: $7.28, plus receive $1 from SavingStar
Local Farmer’s Market (I LOVE this place, and I totally scored there today!)
Huge Box of Bananas – $5.00 (I came home and weighed it because I’m weird like that. 
It was 43 lbs!! We will eat as many as we can over the next week, and then freeze up the rest for baking and smoothies.)
Box of Assorted Pears – $4.00 (21 lbs!)
4 Heads of Cauliflower ($1.25 each) – $5.00
3 Roma Tomatoes (@ $0.49/lb) – $0.56
1 Bag of Mini Carrots – $0.99
Total: $15.55
Total for all grocery items: $52.19, plus receive $1 back from SavingStar
Menu Plan for this Week
Breakfasts
Scrambled Eggs, Yogurt, Fruit, Easy Baked Apple Oatmeal (I will use pears instead of apples.), Smoothies, Toast
Lunches
Baked Potatoes (I bought a large discounted bag of potatoes last week that needs to be used up), Macaroni and Cheese, PB&J on Homemade Bread, Tossed Salad, Leftovers, Carrot Sticks, Fruit
Dinners
Spaghetti Marinara (using homemade sauce from the freezer), Easy Italian Breadsticks, Green Beans
Venison Roast in the Crockpot (my husband loves to hunt, and we have an abundance of deer meat in our freezer!), Baked Potatoes, Roasted Cauliflower, Biscuits
Taco Salad (I use ground venison instead of beef.), Fresh Fruit
Chicken Gravy over Rice, Steamed Cauliflower, Pears
Meat Potato Quiche, Banana Pear Muffins, Broccoli
Grilled Pizza, Tossed Salad
Baked Chicken, Cheesy Mashed Potato Cauliflower Bake, Banana Oat Muffins (gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free! Recipe coming soon!)
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