Finding our calling or our purpose is like giving the perfect gift. We are so full of anticipation and excitement that we can barely contain ourselves, and when they open it and we get to see their response we get as much or more out of it!
When we identify our gifts and act on them, it is like giving the perfect gift every day.
When we don’t, it is like having all of that excited energy trapped inside of us with no where to go. It quickly turns from excitement to agitation, anxiety, paralysis and distress.
So here are the take home messages…
1. When we lean into our gifts, WE FEEL BETTER AND OTHERS BENEFIT.
When we don’t, we all suffer, but we suffer most of all.
2. People rarely “just know”.
Most of us have to fumble around, try a million or two things before we find “the thing”. Also, that “right thing” can change. What was perfect for us at one stage of our life may not be at another. We GROW, and CHANGE, so we have to be willing to ADAPT in response or we will feel stagnant, stuck and trapped.
3. Lastly, and this is an important one, we have to FIGHT for our gift.
I am fortunate to have been one of the minority who “knew” early on what my calling was. I reportedly asked my mother when I was 3 yo if I could be a princess before I was a doctor while watching Cinderella for the first time. And then I spent my life literally preparing to go to medical school, working my tail off to get the grades, skipped grades to get there quicker, starting University at 15 yo, doing the volunteer increasing my chances of acceptance. I applied 3 times before getting in and wrote the MCAT 4 times! And that was just to get in the door!
Then I sacrificed time with friends and family in exchange for books, working up to 124 h/ week in the hospital while doing my clerkship and residency and studying on top of that while I was “off” and not sleeping or trying to juggle all of my obligations with my very young family of 3 under 4 yo. I didn’t just “find my calling”- I fought tooth and nail for it! And it continues to be one the best decisions of my life, because it helps me be healthy, and helps me help others.
For an interesting article about finding the work you were meant to do, click below.
Good luck exploring what your path is and remember, we don’t have to have it all figured out, we just have to be willing to take that first step into the abyss!
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