by Clancy Harrison, MS, RDN, FAND

People call me passionate but I have little passion. For years, passion diminished the potential influence I had as a Registered Dietitian. Passion was the roadblock in my career path because I was too busy trying to achieve big dreams. I was suffering from what some physiologists call the passion paradox. I was quick to tackle anything with an unbridled enthusiasm and I said yes to everything because I wanted to be ‘the’ expert. With all of my zeal, I had little impact on my community.

Over the years I was driven by three main goals:

• I wanted to be the best blogger but had 3 failing blogs.

• I wanted to be the best mom but had a hectic life and the quality time with my kids was sacrificed.

• I wanted to be the best Pediatric Dietitian but did not have time to focus on pediatric nutrition.

In 2014, I became the President of the Al Beech West Side Food Pantry and everything changed. My initial goal was to decrease the health disparity gaps in my community. But the truth is, I was harboring a nasty little secret, one I’m not even sure I was aware of. I suspected the people accessing the food pantry services would be uneducated, in some cases lazy. I thought the clients of the food pantry would take advantage of the opportunity to have free food.

Yet nevertheless, as a Registered Dietitian, I’ve committed my life to fighting childhood hunger. So, I naturally jumped into this new role because even if there was one person who was truly needy, I wanted to help.

During this time, I was recruited by the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics to be a leader on the Community Voices Project. The goal of the national project was to present the real faces of hunger to Congress, not just statistics. When I interviewed clients at the food pantry, I heard stories of resourcefulness, motivation, and success with respect to living with, and in many cases, overcoming hunger.

As powerful stories were revealed, I made peace with my own misconceptions. I learned poverty is fluid in the United States. At a moment’s notice anyone at anytime can find themselves in a life-changing situation such as job loss, reduced wages, a disability diagnosis, divorce, or natural disaster. It often takes one crisis to push a family over the edge; an injury that makes it impossible to work, a death in the family, a car breaking down, or even the birth of a baby. All of these can be traumatic economic events for a family with little or no savings putting many Americans at risk for food insecurity.

Suddenly, I knew I had to share my truth because many people share the same misconceptions.

At first, I had a new passion. I wanted to end childhood hunger. After a dose of reality, I decided to focus on things I could change within my community and use my words to help educate people around me. In order to do so, I became deliberate in every aspect of my work.

My daily tasks began to align with my goals and my actions became purposeful. I was no longer concerned with being the best but doing my best. My goals changed to:

• Fight hunger with dignity.
• Demystify the misconceptions of poverty starting with my own truth!
• Help parents raise their children to be adventurous eaters.

Leading with a purposeful direction changed my career and personal life. In two years, I was able to create a free farmer’s market at the food pantry that distributed over $50,000 worth of free produce in the first year. The Children Feeding Children Greenhouse Project was born creating 4 community gardens to fight hunger in my community. I was invited to give a TEDx talk on the Wilmington Delaware stage and more importantly, I have quality time with my family.

Leading Purposefully

Purpose is passion with boundaries and a dose of reality. Anyone can be passionate. Think about your goals for 2017 and replace your passion statements with purpose statements.

• I must do…

• I was put here to accomplish…

• I am willing to endure…for the sake of this.

Now add in reality.

• Where do I start?
• What do I do right now?
• Who can help me?

Critical work requires clarity, deliberateness, and contemplation mixed with reality. Make your work about what you feel you must do and say, not what you wish to be. How will you fill the pages of your planner in 2017? Clancy Cash Harrison MS, RDN, FAND is a Pediatric Dietitian, Author of Feeding Baby, TEDx Speaker, and Food Justice Advocate. You can find more information at www.ClancyHarrison.com. Follow her on Facebook: Clancy Harrison & Twitter: ClancyCHarrison Get connected with Clancy & receive a client handout to boost nutrition with milk powder!