What a crazy year this is turning out to be! I came back to school with so many unquenchable uncertainties; both about how this final college year would turn out for me and what I would do after graduation. But as a mentor of mine said, "this year I sense that things are going to come together for you." That has proven itself to be undeniably true. I can now see how my active quest for self-discovery(which will never end) is beginning to reap fruit. A quest that was put in hyperdrive this past summer break as I toke summer classes, traveled around the country and to the other side of the world, and spent hours upon hours soul my searching. A quest that began to develop in a whole new way 3 years ago.
For the pass 3 years that I have been in college, I have struggled with the question of what I am supposed to be doing professionally. It is a question that I have wrestled with because it was never as simple as just finding a job that I can do well. In fact it was never even close to being that simple. For I have never really wanted a job. I find personality that me getting a job is the same as me getting a justification; a socially conditioned distraction to take away from what I am called to do for the temporary sake of security. So for better or worse, a job has never really been an authentic option for me.
I found myself in 2007 walking into my freshman year of college; desperately looking for a possible career option to cling to. What I found was the beginning of an inner division between the artist- who wanted to write world uplifting rhyme and books- and the entrepreneur- who wanted to birth a business that made the world better while meeting the bottomline- within me. The two began to drift away from one another like former friends on bad terms. And like two angry former friends, they both began to greedily want me solely to themselves.
Choosing to hang with them both did not seem like an option. For when the artist got more of my time- during my freshman year- the entrepreneur would respond with an angry rants about how "being an artist was not respectable nor would it allow me to live the lifestyle I wanted to live" (a stance which most of my family and associates supported). Yet when I began to give the entrepreneur in me most of my time- Sophomore and Junior year- the artist began to respond by stating that "it had been their much longer(since elementary), seen me through the worst of times and thus deserved first place in my heart." This tug-o-war eventually tore me in two- especially in the face of personal turmoil- and I found myself in the final summer of my undergraduate college career; more lost than ever.
As I arrived home with this question running through my mind, it was clear that if I did not make a choice as to which one I wanted, that I would never move beyond my conundrum . It was this past summer that I began one big push to figuring out my direction in terms of both my career and calling. During this time I began hanging out with both the artist and entrepreneur in me(which neither were two happy about, but they consented to do to the confusing times). But a hopeless feeling began sinking in me that maybe this was all for not. It was at the moment when I felt that my searching would be meaningless and I would just have to start listening to the family and friends that said "just take a break from finding your calling and focus on school," or "right now your not ready to pursue your calling," that I found a way out of my dilemma.
It came as I was watching an interview with Quincy Jones. They were talking about what he has done in his life so far- traveled around the world numerous times, movies, music, art, giving back, and just about everything else you could do that screams an amazing life- when the interviewer asked him one of the most important questions that could be asked: "how are doing all this?" Quincy Jones simple reply hit my heart so hard that I thought it would bust out of my chest. He said that once you find your core skill[the things that we all naturally have developed] that things became easier for him. As those words echoed in my head over and over I knew that was exactly what I needed to find. But what was my core skill?
When you ask the right questions you find the right answer. For as soon as I began asking myself that question, the answer began to repeatedly reveal itself. Every time I sat down to watch a show, read something, talk to people, the word storyteller would riddle across my eyes and into my soul. The more the words came up, the more my heart thumped. I don't remember the exact day, but I do remember the feeling I had. It was as if I just got out of an extremely hot car to be embraced by the blissfully cool breeze outside. I had found my skill.
With that understanding in tact, I began to feel an uncompromising necessity for the growth of both the artist and entrepreneur inside of me. I no longer give them a choice; they had to work together. It was because of this that an interesting thing started to happen. The artist and the entrepreneur inside of me began to see that they had more in common with each other than they thought. In fact as we all started working together, both they and I began to see that we were in fact one being.
The integration of the artist, the entrepreneur, and the storyteller behind them has lead to a movement in myself that has needed to happen. I realize that I don't have to- and never again will- compromise one for the other. I can clearly see that the artist- who writes slam poetry, floetry, fiction, articles, and will soon be writing a book-, the entrepreneur- who launches ventures, builds cultures, and consults to create better world business models- and the storyteller- who tells tales about inspirational adventures and empowering lifestyles- are meant to journey together towards greatness and paradise.
So for those of you that have read this far (much appreciated) and are wondering "what's my core skill" or "what am I called to do in life," I leave you with these calling questions. I am not saying I have the answer or formula to finding a fulfilling calling, but I do believe that if we can ask ourselves the right question that the answers that are meant for us will find us. So here's a couple of questions to consider on the quest of figuring out your craft(core skill) to finding your calling:
Finding Your Craft:
- What do you find yourself doing when your bored?
- What are you doing the moment when times seems to fly by?
- What do you find excites you? What are you passionate about?
- What are the things that you obsess about?
- If you had to teach a class about something, what would you teach them about?
- What are the things that you have fun getting better at?
- When is work not work anymore? What are the things that you can do naturally, that others seems to have to work at to do?
- What are some things that you do on impulse?
- What are some things you do(that adds value into the world) that you see others pay for?
- If money wasn't an issue, what were some activities that you would find yourself constantly engaged in? What are you doing in these activities that make you feel so engaged in them?
Finding your Calling:
- What situations, opportunities, or circumstances calls you to summon every format and ounce of energy from your craft together to engage it in the best way?
- When are the moments when your craft is at it's best?
- What consistently challenges you to use your craft in ways you have never used them before(which betters them in the process)?
- What are you willing to risk everything for?
- When do you use your craft in ways that uplift both you and others?
If you have more questions that you have found helpful to discovering your core craft and calling, please post them in the comment section . These are the questions that have help me immensely in finding my passion and purpose. I hope that they will help you as well. That said, I leave you with this final thought:
Instead of focusing on the career that is best for you, focus on finding what your craft is first. That craft is what you offer to anything that you do, and that craft- if you listen to it carefully- will lead you to what you were called to do. I wish you the best in answering the life purpose that calls out to you.
The Movement Continues...
- Rhetorical Artz
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