Every intentional entrepreneur has a love story. This love lives at the intersection of why you do the work you do and the events that inspired your journey.
 
But often, you don’t see it this way. You forget about the love stories we do not talk about.
This love can live at the foundation of your life’s work.
Let me tell you a story.
 
This week, the world celebrated Valentine’s Day. We talked about the love of friends and family and the love of partners. Some of you felt like you could not share because you do not yet have a romantic partner
Others did not know what to do with a day that elevates one kind of love for others.
 
I also noticed a third love that we leave out of the conversation altogether.
 
This is the love story of your work. It is the why you do what you do. So many of you have trusted me with these stories. You did not see your work as a love story, but it is. And when you can learn to view it from this lens, you can shift the story you are telling about who, why, and what you serve.
 
The definition of love lives in these three words: care, trust, and belief. Love requires intention.  Think about when you started your journey. What inspired you to begin? Many of the women I work with have experienced loss. The story of loss led them to a new story of rediscovering themselves or healing themselves in the face of loss.
 
My story holds similar threads. When I was completing my last year of college, my younger brother died in a car accident. He was one of my greatest loves. We loved each other with the ease and constancy that I miss today. My brother encouraged me to be myself. He committed to loving me in all the ways I showed up in the world.
 
My journey to guide others towards liberatory love that is language began many years ago. I did not always see the connection. But now, I know.
 
This is a love story of another person (my brother) , but it is also a self-love story. I found myself on my knees and I did not know how to get up. Language showed me how to rise again. Language opened windows and doors that I felt closed to me.
 
The language said go this way. It healed me. It brought me back to life.
 
  • What if you saw your life’s work through the lens of love? What if you allowed yourself to remember back to the beginning? Why did you start? Who were you trying to guide in the first place? 
  • What problem are you trying to solve in the world?
  • Who needs this? When you first started, did you need this? Why?
I leave you with these questions and with a request. Love shows up in so many forms. It also reveals itself through where we place our attention and what we commit ourselves to.
 
Often, your life’s work is something you cannot imagine not doing. It is a vow you make to a way of living and being in the world.   Can you pay attention to it? Can you name the love that brought you here?