Over the past few days I’ve heard a brief murmur from a few people I’ve spoken to that resonates with something I’ve been feeling myself a bit lately. There’s a sense of unsettledness, of disquiet about what they’re doing in their lives. It’s not that what they’re doing is bad, it simply doesn’t feel quite right, like it’s not quite what they’re supposed to be doing. For one person it feels like being out of sync with who he is at his core, that while he’s doing good and important work he’s being drawn to something completely different. For another I spoke with it is a feeling that what she’s doing is perhaps not making a difference, that she’s not having the impact on the world that she wants to, that she feels called to have.
On the one hand I resonate with both of those feelings: of doing good work but not the “right” work and of not making a difference out in the world. On the other, I am a believer of blooming where you’re planted, and that sometimes one might not make a difference in the world, but often one makes a difference in a world: for one person or a small group of people. And who knows but that the ripple effects of the changes wrought in that small world widens out into the world at large. Then there are those who simply feel stuck doing what they’re doing: financial challenges and life choices inhibit their flexibility in work and their ability to explore different possibilities.
A handful of people does not a theme make. Not yet anyway. But I find myself wondering if people are feeling a sense of being unsettled in what they’re doing; not unhappy, just a sense of not quite rightness. I do know what it looks like when someone is doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing where they’re supposed to be doing it. They have such a sense of calm rightness, an excitement, an assurance, a sense of flow that surrounds them and permeates their work. What would it be like if everyone sought and found their life’s work, their life purpose. What if they realized what they were born to do and set about the process of doing it. Educator John Dewey said, “To find what one is fitted to do and to secure the opportunity to do it is the key to happiness.” I think Dewey had the right idea and I’ve spent a big chunk of my life talking with people helping them sort out what they are “fitted to do,” that is, what is it they feel drawn or called to do, where does their aptitude, gifts, and talents match up to the work or career that is available to them? And how cool is it when all these things align and the person ends up working in the very field to which they were drawn in the first place. It’s rare, but achievable. What would the world be like if we were all in the right place, the place just right for us?
I am grateful to be, like so many other people, on a journey to discovering what I am ultimately meant to be doing, to understanding what my calling is, what I am fitted to do. While I’m on this journey, I am giving my time, talents, and energy to bloom where I’m planted, to do my very best work in the roles and responsibilities to which I am attached in this moment. All the while we keep our hearts and minds open to the possibilities that present themselves. Perhaps part of the great shift that we’re in the midst of includes people moving inexorably toward the alignment of their life purpose with their interest and abilities. Theologian Frederick Buechner says, “The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I can’t think of anyplace more perfect than that. May we each find ourselves in the place of seeking and finding the purpose for which we are uniquely suited and get about the business of doing it. May it be so for us all!
