It’s an evergreen dilemma for creative people who haven’t yet been able to fulfil their dreams: We feel we have to choose between either paying the rent/mortgage by taking on a mundane job or pursuing our creative passions and entrepreneurial dreams.
Sometimes it seems to be very much an either/or choice:
(a) pay your bills and be safe and bored or
(b) follow your dream and end up living in a cardboard box
There is also (c) the part-time option – where you look after your financial obligations with a boring job and then try to fulfil your dream in the remaining hours of the day, possibly while juggling family commitments.
But sometimes the choice is taken out of your hands by Fate, the Universe, Destiny – call it what you will. Sometimes the safety net, the “dependable” job, is whisked away from you and you find yourself freefalling and the only other option that you can see is to pursue your true goal.
Some people may come to realise that their safety net was no longer a safety net or a Plan B – it had become a prison cell. They had stopped being true to themselves and now what seems like a calamity, is really an opportunity in disguise. It is a chance to lead a more authentic life in tune with what they really desire. They have been set free to pursue their true vocation.
Blind Ambition
I, like many people, prefer to have a safety net and a Plan B. But music guru Will.i.am says that your Plan B , C and D should be the same as your Plan A – all about making your dreams come true.
I was watching a tacky (but strangely compelling) TV movie about the early life of Madonna and in spite of the movie’s limitations, I had to admire the main character for her lack of safety nets and her relentless ambition, determination and courage.
When I use the word ‘ vocation’, I’m not talking about becoming a nun or a priest – although ironically, the story I’m going to use to illustrate my point is that very famous story about the carefree young lady that thought she wanted to be a nun.
After the other nuns got sick of her irreverent tomboy ways, they sent her off on a temporary assignment so she could contemplate whether being a nun was really her vocation.
But in the movie version of the story (I don’t know about the real life version), the young nun is using the convent to run away from life. Her nun’s cell, her day job, is her own self-imposed prison cell and the Reverend Mother has to boot her out again so that she can create a life that would be more fulfilling to her (i.e. music).
Everyone has a vocation – something that we are naturally good at or something that innately appeals to us. Even if it’s not something that can make you a financial fortune, it’s still something that you can use to contribute to others. Your gift is not only a gift to yourself – but a gift to everybody else as well.
Vocation, Vocation, Vocation!
My e-guidebook Vocation, Vocation, Vocation! is a kind of mini-course that uses a question-and-answer process to guide you towards creating and designing your own career, job, post-retirement activity or maybe even volunteer opportunity that can add emotional satisfaction and enrichment to your life.
It’is about using your gifts, skills and fulfilling your true potential – because we are at our happiest when we are truly using our talents.
The ebook takes you through a five stage process:
Vocation, Purpose, Storyline, Destiny and Vision.
If you already know what your vocation is and have already started your journey, you can use the second section of the ebook – the question-and-answer part – to crystallise and clarify your ideas and your vision.
You can also use the five stage process to help you realise a creative project. When you use this guidebook, it doesn’t have to be related to finding a job or career in the traditional sense.
For those of us who prefer security, sometimes the Universe gives us no choice and rips away the safety net so that we can do what we were meant to do.
During these hard, scary and challenging times, we just have to remember the wise words of the Reverend Mother in The Sound of Music, “When the Universe slams one door in your face, somewhere It yanks open a window!”
Sam Punch is the author of Vocation, Vocation, Vocation!
