Finding Your Calling

My father knew at the age of five that he wanted to be a doctor. He never wavered from that decision. His whole life was about healing. One of my cousins knew at a very early age that she wanted to be an actress. At the age of 70, she still is, although she has added some other roles to her repertoire. I, on the other hand, zigzagged my way through several careers before I found the one I was destined for. How is it that some people just seem to know, early in life, what they are meant to do with their lives, while others - most of us, I'd venture to say - struggle to find their true calling and perhaps never do?

Finding your true calling happens when a whole lot of pieces fall into place. Sometimes the pieces fall together suddenly in some great gestalt. Sometimes the pieces come together slowly over time.

It starts when something catches your imagination in a deep way, sparks your curiosity, your interest and your sense of purpose and meaning. It becomes your passion. It grows and develops when your passion begins to match up with your natural and then learned abilities - your aptitudes, skills, talents, and strengths. And then, there's always the element of luck or the availability of opportunity. It all comes together as the dots are connected between your passion, your interests, your skills, strengths, and natural aptitudes, your values, your sense of purpose, your belief in yourself and in your dream, and your will to make it happen.

If you are someone who did not discover your true calling as a young child or as a teenager, do not be discouraged. This discovery can come at any age. Look at the famous painter, Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses, who discovered her true calling very late in life. Though she was always interested in art and painting, she began her career in a serious way at the age of 78 and pursued it until she was 100. (She died at the age of 101.) A similar thing happened to my friend, Carole Wood Hardy, who began writing poetry at the age of 72 and was a published poet many times over by the time she died at age 89.

Have you found your true calling? If not, what are you waiting for? You can do it. Coaching can help.

Read More About It: Here are three of my favorite books on this subject: Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life by Gregg Levoy (Three Rivers Press, 1997), What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson (Random House, 2002), and Do What You Are by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger (Little, Brown & Company, 2001).

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