How do you know if it’s really your purpose or just a momentary distraction?

Last week, I was ready to move back to the Ukraine, the country of my birth. A week and many miles traveled later, I am rethinking that idea. (Plus, my kids aren’t too excited about the prospect…)
 
That got me thinking – how do you know when that passion and excitement you feel is the real thing, the kind that leads you to your purpose? And when is it just a temporary distraction?
 
In my experience, you don’t really know until you get into action and start exploring.
 
Once you start exploring, you start seeing and feeling whether whatever you’re focusing is “right”, whether “way opens” or things feel hard, wrong or just plain “ehhh”.
 
Many people avoid taking action because they don’t know if “it’s the right thing”.
 
Here’s what I say: you’ll never know until you try. Worst case, you’ll learn that the path isn’t for you.
 
I am not saying that you should do something drastic like quit your job… or move to the Ukraine.
 
I am just saying that you take some steps to explore and experiment.    
 
Chances are that you’ll be lead into the direction of your purpose and it may be different than you expected. 
 
About a decade ago, I became obsessed with living abroad. I wanted to move for a couple of years to a country with good weather, a slower pace of life and where my kids could learn a foreign language. I wanted them to experience life outside of the USA, travel a lot and become citizens of the world.
 
I will save you the long story but I couldn’t shake this desire. I thought and talked about it all the time (much to the chagrin of my family and friends, I’m sure).
 
Is it surprising that 6 years ago I made it happen and we moved to a town in the Andes Mountains in Colombia? There we enjoy good weather, a slower pace of life, travel a couple of months per year and spend summers in the US catching up with family and friends.
 
It all started with the strong desire and my taking action to explore the Green School in Bali, which I learned about by chance. It quickly turned out that moving to Bali wouldn’t work for us but a friend, who heard me talk about it nonstop, wound up moving there with her family.
 
And my exploration led us to Colombia, which did indeed work for us and where a year turned into six.
 
Way opened.
 
So what about you – what are you obsessed with? What desire can you not shake? What’s keeping you from exploring it?
 
Or what desire did you follow and what was the outcome?
 
I would love to hear from you, so feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below. Let’s connect!
 
xoxo,
Natalie