What Happens When You Find Your Calling

When I spoke this past September at the Rethinking Everything conference, I had the chance to be interviewed by Peter Kowalke of The Unschooler Experiment. We talked about my homeschooled upbringing and how I transitioned from living a meaningless, self-centered life to a lifestyle of pursuing humility and seeking opportunities to love.

And here I am, 2 months later.

I've made some progress in the book I'm writing (including 3 or 4 complete re-writes), I've plowed through a couple of the books written by one of the speakers we saw at the conference, and the fire hasn't gone out.

It's flickered, maybe even dwindled, but it hasn't gone out.

I helped my wife start her business teaching ASL and Deaf Culture, and I'm doing what I can to get my dad's voice-over business on its feet. I've built a fairly healthy-sized Twitter following and have formed relationships with a few online influencers who can help me push out any content I develop regarding any of these ventures.

At work, I went after a raise, and got a promotion instead.  And then I got my raise.  My midterm grades this semester are straight A's. I've even had time to set up an online art gallery through which I sell my art, as well as rent out space for other artists to sell their stuff too. We've formed some really awesome relationships since then, and made some pretty radical life changes in the process.

In a nutshell, life's great.

It's an interesting feeling to not burn out. Normally, something like the RE conference would get me all excited about life for a couple weeks, and then I would get depressed because the "warm-fuzzy" feeling had gone, leaving hollow pit of emptiness in my soul.

Okay, maybe it's not that bad, but you get the gist.

But that hasn't happened to me yet. I don't know if it will. In my interview with Peter, I mentioned that you find your calling in the way you love people. I compare it to a room full of artists, all painting the same subject. You're going to get different renditions of that subject, based on each artists's eye and style.

In the same way, when you love others, the way in which that love manifests itself through your actions is equal to your calling in life.

And I found my calling mere months before the conference. I started acting upon it, and it landed me a speaking gig. I spoke, and moved lives. And since the conference, I've been pouring all my marketable skills into the success of others - for free, on top of a full-time job and a full-time school schedule.

You'd think that would burn a guy out, but it's quite the opposite.

I think that's why I haven't hit my "funk" yet. I think it's because I've finally found what I was meant to do, and I'm doing it.

I just had to get that out.

This is all for now.
-R.