Find Your People
One of my favorite musical artists is Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors. They have a song on their album, “Strangers No More”, called “Find Your People.” It’s been a bit of an anthem for me in the last year as I’ve learned who is in my corner and who was only there in my imagination.
In the Wild West of creativity, there exists a powerful force that fuels inspiration, growth, and fulfillment: connection. For us creatives, finding our people – a community of kindred spirits, collaborators, and supporters – is not just a luxury but a necessity.
At the end of 2023, I set out to “find my people.” A bit of a mid-life crisis, but I wanted to know who I could truly count on. Moving into 2024, I set my focus to be intentional. Intentional with my time, money, focus, attention, and friendships. I picked up on a podcast series about creating a Board of Directors for your own life. This may sound a bit excessive, but if you know me, I can be a t bit excessive, so this fits right in for me.
I began to go through each of what Michael Hyatt calls your major “life domains”: Body, Mind, Spirit, Love, Family, Community, Money, Work, and Hobbies. I prayed through each category and asked God to show me who “my people” were in each category. From that, each time God brought someone to mind, I wrote their name down in one of those categories. I was beginning to build the wish list for my “board of directors.”
Some spots were easy to fill. I have a few close friends that I would consider my best friends. These are the ones that I text or call regularly; the ones I enjoy spending time with the most. Money was easy. Sarah and I have had a financial advisor we greatly admire and trust for a few years now. I prayed about and asked an elder at our church to be a spiritual mentor to me, as well as reached out to a few names of people who came to mind as prayer warriors to pray for me regularly. I text them often with life updates and prayer requests, it’s awesome.
I already had coaches for business and creativity, so I just made it official with a discussion on my intentions. To be honest, I’m still looking for a health coach, but I do have a great counselor for the mental domain. That just left hobbies, which for that, I honestly turn to Masterclass to learn from the world’s best on a variety of topics from writing to cooking to filmmaking.
I say all this to show you how if we are intentional with finding our people, we can live a more rich and satisfying life. Life was not meant to be spent alone. So whether you are an introvert or extrovert, be bold and go find your people. You’ll be glad you did, trust me.