No, You Cannot Just Enjoy Your Life Outside of Work
Warning: the following admission might make you incredibly jealous of me. If it does, you’ve come to the right place, so keep reading. The confession is, I’ve always known what I wanted to be when I grow up. I have been a born writer pretty much since cascading out of the womb. My peer mentor and I joke that when we were born, instead of saying “It’s a girl!” they said, “It’s a Corporate Storyteller and a Learning and Development Trainer!’ This happens for a lucky few. For the majority of people, it doesn’t. But the good news is, you can still cultivate and discover your career calling at any time.
But why do even need to find your career calling? Can’t you just accept that sometimes a job is just a job, and that you want flexibility and relationships and to–the one I hate the most–be able to enjoy your life outside of work?
No. You can’t. Everyone must find their career calling to live a full life. Disclaimer: when I am talking about a “career calling,” I really mean finding your life purpose. It doesn’t have to be pounding the pavement on Wall Street to be a calling. If it’s being a stay-at-home mom, great. If it’s working on your Etsy store from Costa Rica, great. If it’s a corporate nine to five, that’s cool too. But you need to find it. Why? Read on.
Five Reasons You Need to Find Your Career Calling, a.k.a Your Small Intestine
#1. It’s where we spend the most of our time. At the risk of sounding like a Mary Oliver poem, I will now sound like a Mary Oliver poem. Life is short. And people spend a lot of time at work. American adults employed full-time work an average of 47 hours a week, about six days. Work and life are inextricably woven; you might as well insanely love where you spend most of your day. As the quote goes, “the most dangerous risk of all is spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.”
#2. It feels better than anything else. Throughout my life, I’ve gotten pretty much anything one could ever want. Thanks to my personal trainer, I’ve been a size zero. I’ve worked hard and earned the amount of disposable income that lets me walk into Nordstrom and buy pretty much anything I want without glancing at price tags. I have the best husband in the world, who worships the ground I walk on. I have a gorgeous house, great friends, and an amazing family. And the joy I get from my career is better than all of those things combined. Don’t shoot! I’m sorry; but it’s true.
Don’t get me wrong. Being in love and having a supportive partner is amazing. And I absolutely do choose date night or a girl’s night out over working on my business at times. Being able to fit into skinny jeans is also excellent. But none of it fulfills you like finding your career calling. Here’s why:
Finding your career calling, aka your life purpose, is akin to finding an essential part of yourself. Without it, you are walking around incomplete. It is like walking around without a kidney, or without a small intestine. If someone were to ask you, “would you rather have a husband or a small intestine?” you’d have to choose your small intestine. You can survive without a husband, but not without a vital organ. So that’s why your career calling is the most important.
#3. A career calling means financial independence. When you find your career calling, you find financial independence. This can manifest in one of two ways. The first way is, when you start doing what you really love and what really sets you on fire, money pours in. It’s just a byproduct of being super-passionate. I majored in Creative Writing because it’s my passion. Needless to say, this is not the degree most generally associated with Four Seasons vacations and Kate Spade dresses. But I love what I do, and the money followed. The second way it can work is, when you discover what you love to do, it fulfills you so much that all of the things you used to have to pour your money into to be “happy” –alcohol, dating apps, workout regimes, credit card debt–all fade into the background. I am addicted to buying wrap dresses and I love buying the $6 dollar French bakery fancy croissants. But none of that compares to the feeling I feel when I write a new blog post, or write another chapter in my book, or deliver a new content marketing strategy to a client. Why? That brings me to reason four.
#4. A career calling is about finding your essential “you-ness.” Anyone can buy a dress or a croissant, but no one else can write a blog exactly like I can. I am the only person in the world who could write this exact blog post, or think up that particular marketing strategy. Your career calling is your signature skill, like the Chanel No Five for your soul. It pervades the room when you enter, it lingers when you leave. It is unmistakable. You are the only person in the world who can execute your career calling. So when you think about it like that, how can you go without it?
#5. A career calling is something you can always fall back on. It’s your armor and shield, your emergency exit, your secret admirer, your port in any storm. When I get in a fight with a friend, I can still go and write a really great blog post. When I gain seven pounds and feel like a whale, I can still slip away and write a truly inspired chapter in my book. If everything else in my life disappeared tomorrow, I could still make my way in the world as a writer and a marketer. That’s one thing I know for sure. And that’s an unspeakable reservoir of confidence, comfort, joy, and life security.Convinced? Stay tuned for my next article “How to find your Career Calling.”
As a Corporate Storyteller and Coaching Manager, Jade Makana has ten+ years of experience helping companies infuse their content marketing programs with more strategy, snap, and style. Her content has been linked in The New York Times, CNN Money, and InStyle Magazine. She loves writing, speaking, and thinking about content and developing talent. Learn more at jademakana.com.