Finding your Passion and your Calling

By Charlotte Hill O’Neal

After holding a conversation with several young people recently about what they felt about their future…jobs, marriage, living life in general, I was surprised to find them mute and unable to even begin to answer my question "what do you want to BE when you grow up?"

I can remember being asked this question as a child and it was rather easy for me in some ways. I wanted to either be a doctor or an artist. I had always been associated with art in some kind of way whether it be in the theater, fine arts, singing and dancing, poetry or the like. My very first memory of performing on stage was at the tender age of five years old when I directed our kindergarten class band at a city wide competition event at Memorial Hall in Kansas City. My heart would race with both fear and excitement during these occasions and the adrenaline rush of excitement and the expectation of applause always won! As several of my prolifically creative fellow artists have told me, and I agree wholeheartedly, "art is in my blood and bones. I could work twenty four hours a day, everyday, if it were possible."

Well I didn’t become a doctor, even though I like to think that I might have been successful in a career in medicine, but I did follow my passion in life and have been an exhibiting and teaching artist for several decades now.

There is a familiar saying that goes "Find a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life!"

How many people are able to do just that…not many I bet? And many times it is because we don’t listen to our heart and what the excited beat of that heart is telling us. People who choose just a career, instead of their calling or passion, usually wake up regretting that they have to go to work; they hate facing another day.

An article in Oprah’s O magazine tells us that "when you feel a burst of energy or excitement, stop a moment and see what got your attention…that’s your PASSION talking!"

If you find your calling and pursue it with your passion, life will become an adventure!

We must guide our children to pursue their passion in life to ensure that they become successful in their future careers. Observe your children and what makes them happy and excited. Is it gardening? Is it fashion designing or cooking or caring for animals? You just might be looking at a future landscape artist or tailor or chef or veterinarian. Does your child love to take things apart and put them back together, over and over and over? You might be looking at a future inventor or engineer. Does your child get excited over preparations for school debates and is forever running successfully for office? You might be looking at a future MP or Minister or even President!

I’ve read stories about millionaires who had struggled in unexciting, personally unsuitable careers for years and years, with the result that they were rolling in money but also rolling in turmoil and unhappiness in life. Some of them, to save their sanity, chucked off their careers to pursue their passions even if this meant a drastic change in lifestyle and an even more drastic reduction in their bank accounts.

Sometimes we miss our calling and dismiss the thud of excitement knocking in our chests, because we think that we can’t make money doing it. We immediately assume that that passionate calling is just a hobby or a pastime.

We generally volunteer for things that we are passionate about. Many of the services and things that we give away might be exactly what we are being called to do in life.

There are also some of us who have not pursued our calling because we think that if we earn money by using our gift or talent, the gift will become contaminated or cursed. We find ourselves captive to old teachings that say "money is the root of all evil!"

We buy into the notion that there is glory in suffering. We are the martyrs and the suffering artists and writers. But we must remember that just because you would do what you are called to do for free doesn’t mean that you have to! The fact that you would do it for free is just an indicator of your passion and love for it.

We must remember that they key to success is not what you do; it is how you feel about what you are doing.

There is an ancient Yoruba proverb that says "with your hands you make your success…with your hands you destroy success."

The people at the top of their careers did not just fall there. They were willing to do whatever it took, taking the ups and the downs, asking for what they really wanted and staying focused until they got it.

Success begins with a good feeling about where we are and a positive attitude about where we want to be.

Success and passion go hand in hand.

Remember these points and look for them in your children.

· A career that is your calling, your passion, is something that you practice 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. You’re thinking constantly about new ideas; how to improve this or elevate that, how to pass your knowledge on to others so that they too might find their passion in life.

· But a career without passion is only from nine to five.

Georg Hegel, a German philosopher put it another way…"nothing great in the world has been accomplished without PASSION!"

Last modified: November 06, 2003.
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