You Are Not Your Resume!

Life presents us with moments of decision that will shape our future. Perhaps you're facing one such moment today, just as I did when I left a 20-year marketing career and C-Suite position in fashion to explore uncharted territories within and beyond myself.

In these moments, we often crave guidance and clarity, a voice that speaks to our deepest desires and illuminates the path ahead. Ultimately, that voice must be your own. But as a lover of literature and poetry, I seek words that awaken me to the beauty and complexity of the world. Today, I offer those words to you.

"The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer is a poem that speaks to the depths of the human soul, beckoning us to journey within and discover or reconnect with the true essence of our being. With each line, we're invited to shed fears and insecurities, embrace vulnerability and authenticity, and consider what truly matters in our lives.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.

I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.?

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.

I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon.

I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true.

I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.?

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

This poem offers reminds us that we are more than any one facet of our identities. We hold the power to live a life brimming with purpose and meaning. We can choose to live a life that is aligned with our values and beliefs. We can choose to live a life that is true to ourselves.

I'd love to know: what does The Invitation stir within you?

Meet me in the comments. And as always, please subscribe and share The Power of Possibility with friends because that’s how our community will continue to grow.