Written by Jacqueline Merritt

The Money is the Gravy by John Clark juxtaposes a career to a calling. If you’re experiencing angst in its plethora of forms, insecurity, anxiety, loneliness, boredom, bitterness, isolation or emptiness, you may very well be involved with a career as opposed to a calling. A career yields external rewards including material possessions, financial stability and prestige whereas a calling yields peace. A career is precipitated by a desire to conform to this culture’s definition of success; a calling is birthed from a passion in an individual’s innermost being, the core self. In short, one is extrinsically motivated, and the other is intrinsically motivated. One comes from the world, and the other comes from the heart. Those who claimed their calling, Mary McLeod Bethune, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Eleanor Roosevelt, listened to the beat of a different drummer. They dared to be different. Not only were they in their calling, but our world evolved into a different place, because of the positive energy that emanates from individuals who are in touch with their core selves.

If there’s a need to conform to this culture’s definition of what you should be and how you should act, the calling will be squelched, angst experienced, and bliss thwarted.

On the other hand, if one has the strength, courage, and fortitude to follow an internal passion as opposed to a career, the money will invariably come. Martina Navratilova at the tender age of six knew unequivocally that she was in the right place, when she landed on a tennis court for the first time. Imagine a parent’s concern for a child who expresses a desire to pursue a calling in the sports or arts arena. While well meaning family and friends tell an individual that they are equipped to do anything, it’s also followed up quickly with the advice to find something that yields revenue.

Soren Kierkegaard wrote 150 years ago that the goal of life is “to be that self which one truly is.” Conforming to so many definitions for our lives, mother, daughter, wife, niece, daughter-in-law, grand-daughter, many of us don’t know our core selves any more. Being everything for everybody, we may have forgotten what makes us breathe. Finding a calling is like peeling an onion which has layers upon layers. As opposed to one calling, a person may realize that she has several callings depending on her stage in life’s journey.

To find your calling, imagine what you would do if you won the lottery and didn’t have to worry about a career to survive. Name it and claim it, and discard the popularity polls, because it’s no longer about the world but about you getting in touch with and expressing your core self. Then and only then will you find your purpose. It’s been said that there are two significant dates in a person’s life, the date you were born and that date you realize your purpose. Be still, name it, and claim it, because it’s always been there for you to seize.