With over twenty years in recruitment industry, I’ve sat down with literally thousands of individuals and in one way or another chatted with them about their calling in life. I felt a bit like Morpheus in The Matrix handing Neo the red or blue pill. Which do you choose?
A calling whispers, calls you. It may surface in hobbies, interests, or dreams.
As Joseph Campbell writes so expertly about “The Call” in The Hero with a Thousand Faces,
"Man in the world of action loses his centering in the principle of eternity if he is anxious for the outcomes of his deeds.”
Following your calling is about a process, never a goal, never an outcome. There may be goals and outcomes along the way, though a true calling leads you away from that.
As an individual, you are the only "you" who has ever been or will be, there is no other you. You are the only chance for us to know you, and for this reason, it's imperative to follow your calling. If you ignore it, it dies—one of the greatest loss for all humanity. And for this reason you have the responsibility to be brave and follow your calling where it may lead you.
At times in life, you may feel beaten down, exhausted, trapped, the fire has dwindled and gone out. But like Prometheus, you need to steal the fire from the gods. How do you spark the fire again?
First, keep it simple. Eat healthy, get enough sleep, take long walks: care of the body, the physical, the earth part of you. Like the seasons, you may have the winter, but have faith that once the ice melts, spring bursts through with new sprouts then into summer and the seasons run again. Start with where you're at, regardless of the season. Your season may be in full summer and the fire at the hottest blaze: go with that. It may die: go with that.
Start with small steps. Write something in your commonplace book. If you want to play the flute, list the music store. Or listen to James Galway. Take a small action.
If you want to write, start and note something down. Write three pages of junk. Maybe after editing, you'll find a sentence or two sparkles. Maybe.
Or if you want to start a company, write down three easy steps and then take one. Maybe you write a LinkedIn article or create a logo or call a friend who may have started a company and can help. Maybe it turns out they want to invest in your idea. Maybe.
As the famous Scottish mountaineer, W.H. Murray famously wrote,
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!"