Elle Luna remembers “It was a Tuesday around 7 am when I clicked PUBLISH on an essay on Medium. com titled “The Crossroads of Should and Must”. The responses across social media exploded with enthusiasm. Her invitation is a bold calling to “unlearn everything you’ve ever been told you should do in order to learn what you must do”.
Luna’s unlearning started with foam brushes, ink, water color paints, and paper. She slowly unraveled the difference between a job, a career and a calling. She painted her way into her calling and her book “The Crossroads of Should and Must. Find And Follow your Passion”.
Luna splashes in big bold letters across the pages with quotes, images and reflections. She calls on the poet Rumi..”Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what your really love, it will not lead you astray. ” She points us to the crossroads where we have two paths to choose from: should and must.
Should is how other people want us to live our lives. Filled with expectations, sometimes small and sometimes incredibly influential. The rewards can seem clear and the options can be plentiful. “When we choose should we’re choosing to live our life for someone or something other than ourselves.”
“Must is different. Must is who we are, what we believe and what we do when we are our truest, most authentic self.” Luna believes that Must is the greatest thing we can do with our lives.
Her Must was to paint. Boldly creating with such gutsy courage you almost shudder at the intentionality. She writes of the journey to Must. Her bold, big painted letters call us to ask” But what if I don’t know what my must is?”
She gives us some place to be curious about to explore our must…
- If you had an idea or activity to pursue for a day, what three things come to mind?
- What are three things you do for fun?
- What is something a friend does that you feel envious about?
- What is an activity that gives you chills?
- What sights, sounds or sensations give you butterflies in your stomach?
Her colorful, bold artistic book is an invitation to look at these questions with new lenses. For the visual learner, it is a feast of questions, color and images. For the person at the crossroads, it is an invitation to begin. Her optimism about the journey makes you finish the book and ponder your must for days.
So whether you are starting college, considering your first job, leaving your anchor career, starting your Third Half, or pondering a new way of being….Luna will playfully and colorfully guide you to a new mindset.
What’s your Must?
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