When did you find your 'calling' in life?

I knew as far back as high school that I was interested in joining the military and interested in some kind of career in law enforcement. I’ve been a military policeman for over 20 years and the rest is history.

A friend helped secure me an interview at one of the worlds largest corporations when I was 26 years old. I got the job, which was totally unrelated to my field of study of my BA, but they were looking for a degree and I had some proven skills and applicable work experience. I went on to enjoy 20 years of outstanding compensation and great perks, rapid advancement and increasing responsibility and authority. The company and I ended up being a pretty good match.

Dude. I’m in my fifties and have yet to decide what to do with my life when I grow up!

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” John Lennon, “Beautiful Boy”

I had always been interested in fashion, arts and music from childhood. I just took the path that lead to it right after high school. I am now in fashion styling and photography and more importanly – in love with a musician.

I’m turning 23… I know what I’m interested in.
But I haven’t found that “WOW this is it” moment.

Maybe that’s just an illusion, and it will never happen. You should just do something in the area what fits you most… nothing is perfect. Any study or job will have it’s advantages and disadvantages.

I’m with Zendo, I’m 64 and have had a lot of different careers, some lasted a little longer than others. But I never hit on one so far that could keep me happy indefinitely. I’m fine with this outcome, I have done so many things in so many places with so many people. Had I stuck with the job my original degree prepared me for, my life would have been sooooo uninteresting and I would be so single dimensional.

Try everything, life is about experimentation in my book.

I haven’t found a career that is “right” for me. I just have to support my family.. so I do what I can.

I was almost 23, and in the spring semester of Junior year in college (20 years ago).

I had dropped out for a couple years, because I wasn’t sure and also went through my first major depression. When I went back to school, I took the core courses and random electives that seemed interesting… which eventually led me to a profession I still love.

I knew from a very young age that I loved working with children. I first wanted to be a teacher, but later became a mom and a foster care provider. Over time, I have also done volunteer work with various youth groups.

I always went with my career back-up plan of web design. I went through a 4 year university program related to it and new media. I then got a job in the new media field…. and it’s pretty meh. I kinda knew it was never my true calling in life, but I didn’t know what my calling really was. Then, I started discovering and exploring the traditional way of life and farming, and I have felt such a calling in my heart, it’s almost like there’s a Siren in the middle of a corn field drawing me in! Will that be my true calling? I don’t really know. But I’ve also realized throughout these years that finding your true calling is nice but you don’t have to hunt it down nor put your life on hold until you find it. While I’m not 100% fulfilled at this point in my life, my career helps secure me now and enables my wishes and dreams in the future.

Still waiting

After working a lot of shitty minimum wage jobs I got a degree in economics. I didn’t really do anything with that.

Five years later am going to school to be a mechanic. Specifically, I want to start a shop that turns old “muscle cars” into ones that are eco friendly. Like solar panels on the roof and hybrid.

I want to make a 64 Impala get 50 miles per gallon.

edit :: I am 31 years old.

In my life of 34 years, my calling is to help others feel better about themselves. My career is only one of the ways I do this!

I hardly think your friends really know what they want to do, their minds will change. I used to think I knew what I wanted to do, then I realized, through my education, that I have a lot to learn and that I’m also great at many things and now there are many possibilities out there for me…which is great, better than having a plan

Sophomore year of college. Did a semester of research in a lab and submitted my life to science.

About two years ago I realized that I want to be a teacher, then last semester I realized that I want to teach special education. I am going to be 44 in a couple of weeks.

48 and still looking!

21 – I was a teacher’s assistant and worked with my old 2nd grade teacher. At the time, I got to work with her third grade class. After a week of being there, she came up to me and said “You have such a wonderful way with these kids. You’re so patient, have compassion and you connect with them so well and they all love you. I think that you’d make a great teacher”. I went on to get my teaching degree and now teach 3rd grade.

I am 48 and am still looking for the career of my life. I don’t think it exists, or if it did, I missed it while doing other things. I’ve done a lot of things over the years, and met a lot of incredible (and of course, not so incredible) people in the process. For some reason, most of my jobs included some aspect of trucking and/or driving, so I would assume that is where I belong.

where else could I have learned how to say a very nasty curse in Arabic, and learn it from a Canadian truck driver who was born in Scotland and spent over twenty years driving a truck all over Europe and Asia?

hey! im 20 and at community college too! and i’ve never had ANY idea what i wanted to major in. i dont know about you, but it’s really hard for me to be motivated to do well in school with no goal in mind. but just last month while i was driving across the country and admiring the beauty of the earth and thinking of how interesting it was did i realize that i wanted to major in it. geology. i want to study rocks! i dont know why it never clicked before, but i’m pretty set on it now. it just feels right. corny? i dont know but i’m pretty excited!!

@deni go for it, I wanted to be a geologist when I was younger, and studying rocks and fossils and the history of the earth via the crust sounds exciting. Sure, you get your hands dirty, but who wants a job where you can’t get a little dirty now and then?

You go for it, if you like science and rocks and stuff, that might be just what you are looking for. =)

I dropped out of college at 21, and got a job that would pay for the things I wanted to do.
About 5 years after working there, I realized that I was quite good at doing it, and began to embrace it as a career (up till then, it was just paying the bills).
I now have 32 years at this company. I am doing a job perfectly suited to what I do best. Having said that, I will tell you that if I could sing, draw, or act, I would be somewhere else.

I try not to limit myself. No matter what I do always something new and exciting crossing my path.
I guess my calling, which I would have to say was always there.
Is to have an open mind.

I found my calling at 23. I got locked out of that career at 26, and since then I’ve just focused on making as much money as I can without expending too much effort.

Not yet.. I’m 32 and hoping what ever it is arrives to me soon. I find it difficult to live without such a goal. It seems pointless to go to school and flounder through life without knowing exactly which direction I’m going.

i’m not sure what my calling exactly is. but, however i have trying different routes in life. I have tried business and it wasn’t for me, healthcare was okay, i really enjoy taking care of others but it doesn’t exactly feel right, and i need things to feel right.

Art and music is the route for me, but i’m not sure what exactly. writing takes me away, creating something with my hands is natural and flows right out of the crevices of my brain and music, i can usually figure any instrument out on my own or with little instruction.

Since the economy is so bad i’ve been working in the healthcare field and have been getting by alright, however it isn’t my total knack in life…i’ve been wondering if i should go with my heart and go to school for art and writing to become what i want or stay in the healthcare field and do those things on the side.

my thing is that those things make me feel so good i want them to be the main thing…not the side job that i do only when i have spare time. But art school is expensive anywhere you go 900 dollars a credit or around there…and nonetheless the economy is so bad that those jobs within art are scarce…so therefore i have to be doing what i’m doing in the healthcare field cause its a secure place…

anyone else feel this?

@1000oceans: How about Music Therapy?

@cwilbur: sounds like there’s an interesting story behind being “locked out” of a particular career.

@deni and @AlenaD: My son just graduated high School and has no idea, so he is taking a year off, because he feels the same about being unmotivated since there is no goal. However, working in a blue-collar job to support himself, I worry that he won’t get exposure to a variety of career options in order to get any ideas. So I would like for him to do as I did… attend Community College, use their resources, and take random classes that intrigue him based on the description in the catalogue.

@hearkat i don’t know why i never thought of that. i’m already looking at schools for it starting right after i read that and looking into it, they are in demand and it’s almost like the perfect job.

thanks for the suggestion =D

@1000oceans: I got that impression, and I hope it works out for you!

I stumbled upon it when I was fighting cancer. I am now working with a group of people that are trying to find better ways to help fund treatments for families without insurance or are under insured. Seeing someone turned down for treatment, in America, because of their insurance plan or not being able to afford the treatments – and believe me, very few of us could really afford them, was one of the most devastating moments of my illness.

Watching a mother work two jobs to cover her son’s insurance plan, and missing most of his treatments (while I was in-patient) was a horrible thing to witness. I was lucky enough to meet and befriend this young boy, unfortunately, he passed away. I think of all the time his mother had to miss with him, just to keep him insured. What he needed was his mother, not some system that stands in the way of the family.

My goal is to form a foundation that can help families in the midst of a medical crisis, not just limited to one disease or another. Across the board. Also, to help educate patients and families. Make them aware of so many programs that are out there, to help them, in their time of need.

As I work on this goal, I learn more and more and find more people willing to help. It started in my hospital room and has grown to a group of 15 people, meeting regularly and starting to put the plan in action. Eventually, I’d love to sell off my business and work on this, full time. That day will come, but it sure feels good to be working on something that I think I was truly meant to do.

I don’t know what I want to do (besides being a wife). I’m only 20 so that’s expected.

I’m 44 and still looking. It could be what I’m doing right now, working with dogs, but I’m not sure. The only great calling I’ve ever felt was for beer.

@cak Good for you!!!

I have always wanted to go into medicine. My goal was med school then possibly plastic surgery. I became a paramedic and was one year from getting my BS and heading to Med school when a close loved one was a homicide victim. He died in the ER. I was unable to overcome the loss and my passion and joy for medicine died alongside my loved one.

Coinidentally I was taking an art class to finish up my requirements. It was a painting class and I poured out my emotion onto to canvas.
The paintings became an obsession that led to awards and sales. It has been 10 years and I am still passionate about my work.

Sometimes I wish I had worked past the pain and earned my doctorate but a Doctor without passion is just another hack.

@Dog that was a great response, good to read – i’m sorry about that person that died

yeah, community college is really a smart thing to do. i dont love it but it isn’t that bad and you save so much money!

:Edit: Correction- I was an EMT not Paramedic. Both work on ambulances but Paramedics have completed a highter level of training which I had not yet done. I do not know what I was thinking when I typed Paramedic.::

@johnpowell, that classic cars turned eco friendly is such an awesome idea! lotsa luck to you.