I'm glad your vocation included writing because I/we get to benefit from your thoughts and insights. I have been wrestling with meaning vs. making. The tension comes in the need to "make" an income. Ideally the two align, but what happens when they don't?
It's funny, I often credit a particular purpose discovery work (a workbook that I'll not mention) as the source of what led me to the vocation of coaching. But, as I read this piece a moment of honesty bubbled up. That's not true. It never was true. What's really true is that all of the formulaic elements of that workbook kept landing me in the wrong place.
At the time, I had pages of purpose descriptions that fit like wetsuits on a flock of unshorn sheep. I was ready to abandon the project as a fail, but then something popped.
Pushing aside the noise of the process, I blurted out what felt more like an accurate statement. It was accurate, that's for sure. It was true about me, even though I had no idea what it meant for what work I was called to do. That took a little longer to connect the dots.
The point is that it took about 47 years of life, a workbook, and something I'll never understand to tease this thing out. I'm still teasing it.
Wetsuits on a flock of unshorn sheep ;) that's just fucking brilliant.
And yes, the ongoing teasing is a hallmark of authentic vocation. Once you've "permanently" figured it out, that's a good indication that you've left the path.
The interesting truth about all my former vocational investments is that I stopped seeing paths forward.
This is what folks sorta mean by “dead end job,” I imagine. They’re mostly meaning the myopic path up the ladder.
In my case, I mean the infinite paths extending out from a vocation that feels purposeful. Those paths from this place appear to have infinite directionality, and the longer I develop my relationship to this vocation, the wider and more diverse those paths seem to grow.
I'm glad your vocation included writing because I/we get to benefit from your thoughts and insights. I have been wrestling with meaning vs. making. The tension comes in the need to "make" an income. Ideally the two align, but what happens when they don't?
I feel that tension. It can feel like a choice between the two, and that's scary. But the antidote to uncertainty is not certainty. It's faith.
Let me know what you make of that ;)
It's funny, I often credit a particular purpose discovery work (a workbook that I'll not mention) as the source of what led me to the vocation of coaching. But, as I read this piece a moment of honesty bubbled up. That's not true. It never was true. What's really true is that all of the formulaic elements of that workbook kept landing me in the wrong place.
At the time, I had pages of purpose descriptions that fit like wetsuits on a flock of unshorn sheep. I was ready to abandon the project as a fail, but then something popped.
Pushing aside the noise of the process, I blurted out what felt more like an accurate statement. It was accurate, that's for sure. It was true about me, even though I had no idea what it meant for what work I was called to do. That took a little longer to connect the dots.
The point is that it took about 47 years of life, a workbook, and something I'll never understand to tease this thing out. I'm still teasing it.
Cheers for the read, Ryan.
Wetsuits on a flock of unshorn sheep ;) that's just fucking brilliant.
And yes, the ongoing teasing is a hallmark of authentic vocation. Once you've "permanently" figured it out, that's a good indication that you've left the path.
Solid claim. You’ve inspired something more.
The interesting truth about all my former vocational investments is that I stopped seeing paths forward.
This is what folks sorta mean by “dead end job,” I imagine. They’re mostly meaning the myopic path up the ladder.
In my case, I mean the infinite paths extending out from a vocation that feels purposeful. Those paths from this place appear to have infinite directionality, and the longer I develop my relationship to this vocation, the wider and more diverse those paths seem to grow.