What is your soul yearning for?

Querida Amiga,

Have you heard the story of the pivotal conversation that changed not only my career but the trajectory of my whole life?

Back when I was still a high school principal, I was scheduled for a meeting with the other leaders in my organization. It was suddenly canceled. I thought it would be a few minutes to catch up on my inbox.

What came next changed the trajectory of my life.

My boss walked into my office and said, “We haven’t caught up in a while. Can we use the time we just got back to catch up?” We started talking and I don’t remember the details of the conversation. What I remember clearly are the words that flowed out of me. They were words I had been mulling over in my mind for quite some time.

At one point I said, “I will not be coming back at the end of this year.” My boss was caught off guard and encouraged me to go home relax and keep this between us, it was probably just a really hard week.

I knew those words were my stake in the ground. I was done with this chapter of my life and ready to move on, even if the future was unknown.

With complete peace, I walked away from a successful career that had spanned 15 years. I did not have a plan or a vision of what was next. What I did know deep in my soul was that I was destined for more and willing to take a leap of faith to explore what that could mean.

The next 6 months were a glorious sabbatical full of rest, meditation, journaling, visualizations, travel, cooking, spending time with family and friends...it was a time of deep listening to what my soul was yearning for.

I asked myself over and over again, “What do you want to do with your one glorious life?”

As the answers emerged from within me, I reconnected to my passions, gained clarity of purpose, and rooted my intentions moving forward in my personal values. At the end of this time, when I knew I was ready to reemerge, I saw with laser focus what was meant for me and followed those opportunities with clear action.

I now live the life I wrote about during that sabbatical.

Will I ever have 6 months again to deeply invest in listening to my soul and map out a completely new trajectory for myself? I don’t know. What I do know is that smaller sabbaticals are available to me at any time. I may plan out a two-week vacation to turn inward or carve out 20 minutes to meditate in the morning.

The amount of time is not as important as setting the intention to have regular sabbaticals for rest and reflection. We all need dedicated time to navigate through our thoughts and dreams to set audacious plans for our future selves.

What a radical act it would be for all Latinas to take sabbaticals.

Latinas connected to their passions would be able to identify more opportunities to also connect with joy.

Latinas who can see the dreams living inside of them would have a picture to paint of their fulfilled future self.

Latinas who take time for rest are able to listen to the sound of their soul speaking to them.

Latinas who take time to shut off the expectations of the outside world and instead focus on the intentions of their heart are able to experience the love that they embody.

What a radical act it would be for all Latinas to take sabbaticals. A radical act not only for themselves but also for future generations of Latinas who will follow in our steps.

Quiero saber de ti. What is your soul yearning for? How will you prioritize rest to sit and listen to that yearning?

Un Abrazo, 

Michelle

P.S. Registration for the next cohort of The Chingona’s Sabbatical is open! This 10-week group coaching program is dedicated time and space for us to reconnect with our passions, gain clarity of purpose, and move forward in our lives with intention. The beautiful part is that this all happens in a community of Latinas on a similar journey of healing and liberation.

The information page for The Chingona’s Sabbatical is now live on my website! All of the details for the next group can be found there. If you are interested in joining the next group, you can sign up here for a call with me. Let’s see if this group coaching program for Latinas is the community space where you will grow into your purpose-driven life.