Purpose

You Have What You Need

When I was in nursing school, I was introduced to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Basically, the gist is this: everything we “need” for human survival can fit into a pyramid. At the bottom of the pyramid, the largest part, are your most basic needs: food, clothing, water, shelter. And as you move up, there are smaller needs (ie. friendship, companionship, acceptance). Still equally as important as the bottom tiers, but less vital for survival, hence smaller. After all, if you’re starving to death a spa day may seem a little secondary, right?

It donned on me this week, as I was sick and solely concentrating on my body‘s survival, that we live in a society that has the privilege of not worrying a lot about the bottom rung. Thankfully, most of us know where our next meal is coming from.

But the downfall to accessibility and ease is that we get a lot …

two kids and their dad in an inflatable pool in their backyard

Where I grew up, we didn’t have neighborhood pools or county festivals. We had gravel and dirt roads. In fact, it was such a small town we didn’t even have a chain restaurant until my senior year of high school. I’ll never forget the line that wrapped around the building on the eve of their opening, everyone just waiting for a taste of the elusive Appleby’s.

But there are some benefits to a slower space and pace, and one is that it breeds imagination. I’m probably as creative as I am because I spent a lot of time alone, telling my own stories from a wood deck or a fig tree.

I started my life in a small town and somehow ended up in Frisco, the “fastest growing city in America.” Things here are easier, more accessible. We have shopping and dining and events galore. Yesterday, I saw a robot on my …

by Stephanie Hanrahan Community Guest Blogs HeartBeats Inspiration Inspirational Words Love Love In Action Love in Family Motherhood Priorities Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

This is a picture of my “previous life”. I was a medical device sales rep, spending my days working cases in operating rooms and cardiac cath labs. It worked hard and made great money. I was able to be present for most of the important moments for the kids at school. I didn’t get to take them to school most days and I didn’t get to pick them up.

But when I was there, I was ALL there.

At night, we were free to laugh and play. I didn’t have the looming stress of how in the world I would get it all done tomorrow. I wasn’t worried about how I was going to make payroll and keep the lights on. (That was someone else’s job.) After my years as a server and a flight attendant, I spent the rest of my career, leading up to HeartStories in sales and this was the …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Inspiration Inspirational Women Inspirational Words Loving Yourself Motherhood Our Story Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

We had our first little “bonfire” over the weekend. Though I’ve built plenty of fires in my lifetime, it’s been a while since I’ve built one outside for roasting marshmallows and warming a crowd over a long period of time. We needed to keep the fire going over a four-hour stretch and laughably, my plan was to buy the pre-cut logs at Walmart and call it a day.

I thought I had plenty of wood until about two hours in.

The sun was down and it was becoming increasingly chilly when I threw the last few logs on the fire. There were two hours left in the party, the temperature was quickly dropping, and there was no more wood. We had nearly 60 seventh graders running all-around and the fire was supposed to be the gathering place. These kids had s’mores to roast!

We needed to keep that fire burning.

I started to feel …

by Crystal Gornto Inspirational Words Love In Action Loving Yourself Purpose Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

In interviews and everyday life, people often ask if I’ve “found my purpose” in my work with HeartStories.

I don’t know where this lands in the Ennegram or other tests, but I’m a person who needs a reason, a purpose, behind why I’m investing my time into everything I do. I would say I’m very competitive, but it’s more of an internal drive of passion than an external measure of competition. I need to do the thing I set out to do, whether anyone else, applauds it, sees it, or even cares.

In fact, the founding tenants of HeartStories have always been “connecting women to inspire joy and the courage to pursue your purpose”.

Even in that, there is an implication that purpose is a singular thing, you inherently understand. Or it’s something you’ve worked hard to discover. As I’ve grown as a person, I realize now, more than ever that purpose …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Inspirational Words Love In Action Loving Yourself Our Story Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

In each season of life, I find myself fighting the story in my brain that says, “But no, really. This next season is going to be calmer. More peaceful. There will be more free time and rest.” I fight it because I’ve now lived long enough to know better, life is not magically going to slow down on its own. It only takes one glance at the folks in the season of life ahead of me to realize, that next season might even be busier. I also fight it, because I want to flip that script from “there will be” to:

“I am making choices that lead to . . . more calm, more peace, more free time, and more rest.”

With these boys of mine quickly becoming teenagers – I do realize that there is a moment coming, not too far away, when my time spent mothering will significantly decrease. That’s …

by Crystal Gornto Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Family Loving Others Loving Yourself Priorities Purpose The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat

You Have What You Need

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Sister, keep going

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Keep the fire burning

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Is purpose something you simply “find”?

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More than this “busy” life we’re living

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