Ready To Move Mountains? (Thanks Dr. Seuss)

I was reading the book to one of my children on a lazy day at Barnes and Nobel with a cold iced coffee in hand. I kept turning the pages, more inspired than my son was. Then I got to the line that we all need spoken into our souls on a semi-regular basis: “Kid, you will move mountains!”

Or it might read, “Elisa, you will move mountains!” And for you, what would it declare? “[YOUR NAME], YOU WILL MOVE MOUNTAINS!”

This Dr. Seuss quote speaks to many of us deeply. We might not want to change the whole world (or maybe we do), but we undoubtedly want to make a difference as we believe in something as impossible and beautiful as hope–that mountains really can move.

What Would Moving Mountains Look Like?

Is it possible that we really can be part of bringing something good to the world?

The state of overwhelm, busyness, boundarylessness, purposelessness, the drag of mental health, broken or tense relationships, distance from God, small groups that are stale, non-profits and businesses that are stuck . . . is there a flicker of hope that these can move, morph, and change into something beautiful?

Yes, you can still move mountains.

Moving Mountains By Changing Ourselves

We might wish, hope, pray that our circumstances change. But often we are the ones who must change. We must be who we are meant to be to make the difference in the world we were born to make.

For me, figuring out who I wanted to be (who I was designed as, what character I wanted to have, and what relationships I wanted to define me) was the most foundational part of changing my trajectory and moving mountains.

Mountains We Have Influence Over

Trying to change the world burned me out. Leadership without limits hurt me. Loving without being poured into wasn’t helping me be me, or make the difference I was born to make.

But these were things I had influence over. I didn’t take the time to value the importance of sorting through them, and making decisions about them. Yet I still had influence over areas of my life and didn’t own it. (Of course there are always areas we can’t control–but there are also just as many that we can in our circles of influence.)

Over and over I hear from you guys that you are too busy, you are too overwhelmed, you don’t know when to say yes or no (no shame either, it is hard!), or you just have junk, like past trauma or whatever else keeping you from making the difference you are meant to make. Or maybe worse–these things fuel you to make the difference in the world you are already are making.

Not to bring you down, but this just isn’t sustainable. You’re not ready to move mountains when your feet are buried within them.

Why You Can Still Move Mountains

If you find yourself struggling with these things, I kindly offer you what was given to me–hope in tandem with hard work. I was given some guidance and I finally took it.

I still wanted to move the mountains of injustice and make a difference in the world. You know, those external mountains. But I had to really work through what was inside of me first.

Start Here If Your Ready To Move Mountains:

I needed a process to discover my best fit and method to be intentional enough to pursue it. But it came over a series of time and lots of steps. Here are some:

1.) FIGURE OUT WHAT MAKES YOU TICK

We like to call this our personality, and that is part of it. But it includes many more layers. It includes our history, experiences, trauma, hurts, joys, depth of relationships. It includes our physical health and mental health, along with the family and culture we are brought up in. Can you nail this down? Nope. But you can at least explore it a little.

These are some of my first freebies on my blog, but they are still helpful to get started figuring out what makes you tick:

2.) DISCOVER WHAT DRIVES YOU

The second step really comes down to understanding what motivates you. No surprise, this is all directly related to the first step. But here is where you take who you already are and see how it casts vision for you, and finding purpose in that.

Here are two options to do this:

3.) Become Fully Intentional

Once you know who you are (generally) and know what drives you (again, generally) is when you can really begin living in your “sweet spot,” “purpose,” “calling,” etc… to move mountains.

But here is the kicker: It is still not about what you do but who you are becoming. Life Mapping is the method I teach to help people do this. We start at who we want to be by the time we die, find our themes, making our priorities and “life accounts,” and determine what they look like. From there, I teach you a system that helps you make goals, schedule and life intentionally so that you actually are moving towards who you want to be.

And simply, by dong that, you begin making the difference in the world you were born to make. You can learn more about it here, or go to learn about how to do this via a coaching package (more effective), or, do it on your own with this Life Mapping Workbook by clicking below (free).

Sure, I might have done a lot of good, even great things before I began living intentionally with Life Mapping. But as a busy mom trying to change the world, as a weary justice-seeker, and as a rising leader–I needed much more. I needed to be shaped so I could become one who moves mountains (I believe, in tandem with God). We all need clarification on who we are meant to be and a plan to move forward so that we can make the difference we are born to make!

I think you were born to move mountains too! Start with one of above tools to help you. Like me, you just might find you need it!

(Here’s the Oh The Places You’ll Go Dr. Seuss Book Too)