What is your calling?

[Talon]

Today I've been thinking about what other's feel is their true purpose in this life....and I became curious about this particular community, and what each of you feel is your own unique calling (or not). This can be something that you do in your work or spare time, and can be anything you contribute to, or feel a pull towards and have yet to do. This may be creatively, spiritually, your current profession, or through community outreach, ect.

I look forward to your responses.

[clay]

Most of my life I was in the medical field, as a Nurse! I was led to that oath at age 2...while in an oxygen tent with a trach. I was forever getting out of my bed to go and tend to the other crying babies. My own sounds were silenced by the trach! So at age 23 I graduated Nursing School and put in 21 years as such!...along with being first Female Volunteer Firefighter and one of first EMT's in State of SC. I put in 12 years as First Responder in my local Rescue Squad! I have always given back to the community thru those services..both professionally and volunteering!
In recent years, I have found my empathic side, my healing nature side..and resonate with Star Seed Indigo children of Telos & Lemuria....crystals & stones are very, very significant to me. Along with that, I have a therapeutic touch. The movie Avatar...touched me very deeply...the Tree of Life...especially!
My "calling" or my comfort zone is being that of being a silent, gentle giant amongst the redwoods now. I will keep silent, turn the other cheek, and try to rise above conflicts and dischord. I find inner peace on so many levels and identify strongly with dolphins I see on a regular basis. I live my life as I wish in quietness and gentleness..it is just my nature. I enjoy living life on a positive level and steer clear of conflicts...it is just something I have no time for...if it doesn't take away my birthday, or my breathing, I just tend to overlook that small, insignificant stuff....instead focusing on how I can make the day a more peaceful one or encourage someone who is down or facing something horrible and alone to feel my support..whether vocally or silently.
It gives me great joy to reach out and touch someone, to make that person feel real in that moment with me or validate their significance in this world. It takes but a second to be kind...and a lifetime to overcome meanness or hurtfulness....
I will be back later...just wanted to contribute to this wonderful thread, Talon! Thank YOU! for it's inception!

[Talon]

Originally Posted by claybaby

Most of my life I was in the medical field, as a Nurse! I was led to that oath at age 2...while in an oxygen tent with a trach. I was forever getting out of my bed to go and tend to the other crying babies. My own sounds were silenced by the trach! So at age 23 I graduated Nursing School and put in 21 years as such!...along with being first Female Volunteer Firefighter and one of first EMT's in State of SC. I put in 12 years as First Responder in my local Rescue Squad! I have always given back to the community thru those services..both professionally and volunteering!
In recent years, I have found my empathic side, my healing nature side..and resonate with Star Seed Indigo children of Telos & Lemuria....crystals & stones are very, very significant to me. Along with that, I have a therapeutic touch. The movie Avatar...touched me very deeply...the Tree of Life...especially!
My "calling" or my comfort zone is being that of being a silent, gentle giant amongst the redwoods now. I will keep silent, turn the other cheek, and try to rise above conflicts and dischord. I find inner peace on so many levels and identify strongly with dolphins I see on a regular basis. I live my life as I wish in quietness and gentleness..it is just my nature. I enjoy living life on a positive level and steer clear of conflicts...it is just something I have no time for...if it doesn't take away my birthday, or my breathing, I just tend to overlook that small, insignificant stuff....instead focusing on how I can make the day a more peaceful one or encourage someone who is down or facing something horrible and alone to feel my support..whether vocally or silently.
It gives me great joy to reach out and touch someone, to make that person feel real in that moment with me or validate their significance in this world. It takes but a second to be kind...and a lifetime to overcome meanness or hurtfulness....
I will be back later...just wanted to contribute to this wonderful thread, Talon! Thank YOU! for it's inception!

Wonderful response....I like how you responded in a truly all-encompassing manner. The way we contribute positively to the world, (I feel) can be as much as your chosen life-long profession, to giving a warm smile to someone who seems to really need one at that moment.

[Soft*Silver]

I figured out a long while ago that whatever I did in life for a career had to have meaning, to make a difference. I went into mental health and social services. I ran domestic violence shelters,rape crisis units, drug rehabs, etc. I burnt out on them after a couple decades. I moved into becoming a child and family therapist. Loved it. Found my calling. Then had my accident which ended that professional road.

I tried to work, but couldnt keep up. The strain was too hard on my unhealed back. Other issues crept up and made me more frail. I relapsed from my own long term alcohol recovery, and a relationship ended in a bad way.

For a few years I had to lay on my couch to take the slow turtle crawl of true healing. That and several surgeries, therapy, AA, and a departure from romance, allowed me to resurface whole. I am not fixed. I am disabled. But I am functional. And needed a new purpose. I chose not to go back into mental health and social service. I knew I was always going to need to keep that part of my skill level for myself. While healed, I was always going to need help, so I was going to be my own client, forever. I basically hired myself as my own case manager. Ha!

So I turned to something I love..being a femme. And a plus sized femme at that. I am starting a store, a consignment store, for plus size clothing. And I call it Pretty & Plus. Its SO much more than a clothing store. Its a social network, an event, a support base, a kinship, a sacred space, for all us plus size Positive Gals. (the plus sign in math means positive, doesnt it?)

But I also do alot of work with animals too. I am helping animal rescue non profits raise monies to care for the needy animals in their care. From dogs to cats to horses. I can not handle the physical care of these animals so I support those who can.

[girl_dee]

GREAT thread idea.

My calling in life has changed over the years. When i was young it was to survive, i had no time to waste worrying about my calling. i had to put food on the table, that was my only calling. i took many *jobs* hussling and bussling to make ends meet.

When i started my career in banking it didn't fulfill that need i have to help others. i started volunteering. i worked at a home for teenage pregnancy and mothers. i worked with hospice. i worked at the Ronald McDonald house, Childrens hospital. Especially on holidays.

i ended up in New England after Katrina and went to work for a group home withe head injured folks. THAT was awesome. i felt like i was getting paid to volunteer. i wanted to do more, so i went to massage school learning bodywork and was able to work on them, bringing them some comfort. i was in heaven. i was with an alcholic partner and my personal life was in such turmoil i left New England and my dream behind. That was hard. VERY hard.

Now i am in Canada doing what i love again, bodywork. The health challenged, sick, cancer stricken, MS , car accident victims are who i work on. i'm in heaven again. i'm selfish, i have a need to feel good about what i do and i feed that need by doing just that. i am now in a teacher certification course where i can pass down what i know about bodywork and hopefully inspire others to get out there and touch someone!

My other calling? photography i've had a camera in my hand since i can remember. Soon i will be going out there to capture events for people and hopefully have fun doing it.

[Talon]

Originally Posted by Cajun_dee

GREAT thread idea.

My calling in life has changed over the years. When i was young it was to survive, i had no time to waste worrying about my calling. i had to put food on the table, that was my only calling. i took many *jobs* hussling and bussling to make ends meet.

When i started my career in banking it didn't fulfill that need i have to help others. i started volunteering. i worked at a home for teenage pregnancy and mothers. i worked with hospice. i worked at the Ronald McDonald house, Childrens hospital. Especially on holidays.

i ended up in New England after Katrina and went to work for a group home withe head injured folks. THAT was awesome. i felt like i was getting paid to volunteer. i wanted to do more, so i went to massage school learning bodywork and was able to work on them, bringing them some comfort. i was in heaven. i was with an alcholic partner and my personal life was in such turmoil i left New England and my dream behind. That was hard. VERY hard.

Now i am in Canada doing what i love again, bodywork. The health challenged, sick, cancer stricken, MS , car accident victims are who i work on. i'm in heaven again. i'm selfish, i have a need to feel good about what i do and i feed that need by doing just that. i am now in a teacher certification course where i can pass down what i know about bodywork and hopefully inspire others to get out there and touch someone!

My other calling? photography i've had a camera in my hand since i can remember. Soon i will be going out there to capture events for people and hopefully have fun doing it.

Don't you think that it usually* is* a journey of self-discovery, before we begin to discover what truly speaks to our individual hearts and minds? It's almost like you have to go through hardships in life, in order to be able to have true compassion for others...or what point of reference do you really have? I love how your passion really comes across, and you want to share this feeling with others in order to inspire!

[Daddislilgrrl]

Wow, great thread! I am fixin' to turn 49 this August, and I have finally figured out exactly where my calling and my passion lies. My calling is my current job, working in Support and Sales, out of my home, for 1-800flowers.com. It's a job I found by accident and I absolutely love it. It's helping me gain self confidence, after being on disability for more than 8 years. My passion? My husbutch Andy and I own and run a non profit small breed dog rescue. We rescue dogs from shelters (high kill mostly) and we vet them, and we rehab them, and then find these precious babies new homes all over the country. We use www.petfinder.com to advertise, and our website is www.arfctx.org . Andy had no idea what he was getting into when he met me LOL...but now after 8 years together he wouldn't change a thing.

Right now though, we are in dire need of donations because we took in 3 what were supposed to be chihuahuas and ended up being golden lab/chow mixes. These are gorgeous pups, and they are very wise. They need to be spayed/neutered, and are eating us out of house and home. But we are working hard to get the donations we need.

Thanks again for starting this thread. I love it!

Daddislilgrrl (Lisa)

[skeeter_01]

"Right now though, we are in dire need of donations because we took in 3 what were supposed to be chihuahuas and ended up being golden lab/chow mixes. These are gorgeous pups, and they are very wise. They need to be spayed/neutered, and are eating us out of house and home. But we are working hard to get the donations we need".

post your donation needs on www.chipin.com alot of the rescue FB pages that i'm on use chip in for donations.

and this goes right along with what i think my calling has become..it's changed over the years...95% of my employed life has been in the human service/medical field...i currently work at a HUGE level 1 trauma center/ER at a large university hospital as a clerk...LOVE IT!! however as i get older, i find my TRUE love is dogs...specifically pit bulls but i LOVE and advocate for all breeds...i've found that i like dogs better than most people!! my dream would be to have a rescue...

i'm just going back to volunteer at the local humane society...i did a couple years ago and the first dog that i took out on a leash for a walk, didn't have experience on a leash..he was a big boy..sheppard mix...ran full boat into my knee and tore my miniscus in 2 places...LoL!! so i'm goin' back...i'm just afraid i'm gonna bring them all home with me...be interesting in my little one bedroom butchler pad!

anyway...that's it for me...DOGS!! and the nicest thing about it...my bff is JUST a crazy about dogs as me!!

great thread!!

[girl_dee]

Originally Posted by girl_dee

GREAT thread idea.

My calling in life has changed over the years. When i was young it was to survive, i had no time to waste worrying about my calling. i had to put food on the table, that was my only calling. i took many *jobs* hussling and bussling to make ends meet.

When i started my career in banking it didn't fulfill that need i have to help others. i started volunteering. i worked at a home for teenage pregnancy and mothers. i worked with hospice. i worked at the Ronald McDonald house, Childrens hospital. Especially on holidays.

i ended up in New England after Katrina and went to work for a group home withe head injured folks. THAT was awesome. i felt like i was getting paid to volunteer. i wanted to do more, so i went to massage school learning bodywork and was able to work on them, bringing them some comfort. i was in heaven. i was with an alcholic partner and my personal life was in such turmoil i left New England and my dream behind. That was hard. VERY hard.

Now i am in Canada doing what i love again, bodywork. The health challenged, sick, cancer stricken, MS , car accident victims are who i work on. i'm in heaven again. i'm selfish, i have a need to feel good about what i do and i feed that need by doing just that. i am now in a teacher certification course where i can pass down what i know about bodywork and hopefully inspire others to get out there and touch someone!

My other calling? photography i've had a camera in my hand since i can remember. Soon i will be going out there to capture events for people and hopefully have fun doing it.

Wow so much has changed since 2012!

Well i am not longer doing my passion of bodywork, as my hands have pretty much given out. It’s an occupational hazard among bodyworkers.

i’ve discovered a new passion, which is officiating weddings in the LGBT community. i love doing them all, but legally binding two people and hearing each love story has been something i’ve been enjoying for a few years now. i also love marrying heterosexual couples, but my heart is in our community

My goal is to do this full time one day. It may take years but i can do it!

[CherylNYC]

This is such an interesting moment for me to be reading this thread. I'm a professional sculptor/scenic artist, and I'm pretty good at it. People actually pay me by the hour to be an artist. What I do is fairly arcane, but there are many people who want to do what I do so badly that they actually will work for free, or nearly free, to try to break in. I'm well respected, and I'm at the top of my tiny, arcane field. I make a decent living as an artist in NYC. Is it my calling? Well, probably-maybe.

I get paid to make things that other people ask me to make. Hands for hire. I rarely make my own work anymore. I lost quite a few of my original pieces in Hurricane Sandy, including the largest, most recent piece that many thought was one of my finest sculptures. Most of my sculptures that weren't destroyed were damaged. Some heavily. I haven't made an effort to repair those old pieces. I haven't made anything new in awhile. A long while.

It's kind of messing with my identity but what I really want to do when I leave work after 10 intense hours of being a scenic artist/sculptor, is ride my motorcycle. No one is ever going to pay me to ride, and that might even ruin it for me, but it's what I love. I used to make more time to make and show my own sculptural work, but then I had some losses and now... well, I don't care much about art anymore. During my work day I care intensely that the thing I'm working on must be perfect and gorgeous. I'm infamous for my perfectionist drive on each and every thing I touch at work. Then I leave the building, put the key in the ignition, and I can barely remember what I was working on.

Not only do I love to ride my motorcycle, I love to enable others to ride as well. I teach skills in the parking lot. I used to instruct on the racetrack. Now I just spend all my money riding my bike at the track. Because it makes me happy. Once again, I'm not in it for the money. That's not why I teach. And it's certainly not why I'm doing the motorcycle activist/advocacy work that has consumed me for the last two months. This particular advocacy project has actually cost me money because I'm self financing all the costs, such as copying, for the work that I'm doing around a proposal the Governor has made which will affect all of us for as long as we live in NYC.

It seems I'm pretty good at this advocacy work, too. I have some supportive, activist friends who are helping me here and there, but if this works I will have changed things for the better for all of us, and I will have done it mostly by myself. There are those who assume that motorcycle rights advocacy is my calling, too. I've got the proverbial fire-in-the-belly now, but I know myself. I probably won't sustain it after this project draws to what I think and hope will be a successful conclusion. I'll want to move on to something else entirely for awhile.

Maybe I don't have a single calling. Maybe things call me for a moment, or a few months, or a few years, and then something else calls. Does it always have to be one calling?

[EnchantedNightDweller]

Teacher for at-risk kids. Somehow it was just meant to be. I resisted at first but then the kids stole my heart. I like to think I provide them with a stability they desperately need. I work at a school where they are surprised and thrilled to have teachers return from winter break. Teachers don't stay here. It's easier to go work in the suburbs where students don't face challenges and obstacles that keep them from learning. You don't have to work as hard. Success comes easily. But I'm not going to be one of the ones that leaves. I want to see them come back to visit when they are in middle school and high school. Maybe even when they bring their own kids to school. 😊

[girl_dee]

Originally Posted by CherylNYC

Maybe I don't have a single calling. Maybe things call me for a moment, or a few months, or a few years, and then something else calls. Does it always have to be one calling?

i sure hope not, because i’ve had many. i think there is a big difference between a calling and a whim.

when i do shift gears, i do lots of research and try to get a realistic idea of whether it’s feasible. If so, i jump. When i don’t love it anymore, i move on.

i’ve loved being a Jane of many trades. People have told me i lack stability in sticking to anything for a long time, but for me, i love having new blood in my system when it comes to what i do.

[Talon]

Originally Posted by Miss_Tia

I figured out a long while ago that whatever I did in life for a career had to have meaning, to make a difference. I went into mental health and social services. I ran domestic violence shelters,rape crisis units, drug rehabs, etc. I burnt out on them after a couple decades. I moved into becoming a child and family therapist. Loved it. Found my calling. Then had my accident which ended that professional road.

I tried to work, but couldnt keep up. The strain was too hard on my unhealed back. Other issues crept up and made me more frail. I relapsed from my own long term alcohol recovery, and a relationship ended in a bad way.

For a few years I had to lay on my couch to take the slow turtle crawl of true healing. That and several surgeries, therapy, AA, and a departure from romance, allowed me to resurface whole. I am not fixed. I am disabled. But I am functional. And needed a new purpose. I chose not to go back into mental health and social service. I knew I was always going to need to keep that part of my skill level for myself. While healed, I was always going to need help, so I was going to be my own client, forever. I basically hired myself as my own case manager. Ha!

So I turned to something I love..being a femme. And a plus sized femme at that. I am starting a store, a consignment store, for plus size clothing. And I call it Pretty & Plus. Its SO much more than a clothing store. Its a social network, an event, a support base, a kinship, a sacred space, for all us plus size Positive Gals. (the plus sign in math means positive, doesnt it?)

But I also do alot of work with animals too. I am helping animal rescue non profits raise monies to care for the needy animals in their care. From dogs to cats to horses. I can not handle the physical care of these animals so I support those who can.

I love how you recognized that sometimes in life we must be flexible to where life might take us...and that the plan we start with, may not be the plan that we end with. This (I feel) is one of the important keys to life..having that flexibility, and not allowing change to stop you.

[Daddislilgrrl]

These days life is very different. I left my job at flowers, worked on the rescue, and Andy and I got officially married last November in NM. I love being his wife,

In the meantime, thanks for the link. I'll be sure to check it out!

Y'all take care!

Daddislilgrrl

[JDeere]

I am not sure of my calling as of yet. I do however have a love for animals. I am thinking about seeing if I can get a job at the local Vet's office or volunteer at a rescue.

[MsTinkerbelly]

My calling was always taking care of people, and I have done it for most of my life.

I ran residential care facilities and did job support (while working in Aerospace) for people with developmental disabilities, and women with mental/dual diagnosis issues for 26 years.

I cared for a child, 2 spouses and my mother until she died. I now care for assorted critters and my spouse who works from home, an elderly man who needs us, and a partridge in a pear tree. Lol

Our Pastor has asked me to participate in a 3 year program to council other members of the Episcopal faith...but I am pretty sure i have nothing left to give others outside of my family.

So, I am in search of a new purpose...and I have not yet found anything interesting. I'm only 54, and yes I have some limitations...but I'm not ready to curl up and die.

[betruetoyoursoul]

My calling has always been one to nurture as it comes naturally to me. I have had the opportunity to work with many different populations from preschool, K-12, Dementia clients, mental health clients, and so much more...I truly feel blessed.

[Daddislilgrrl]

Hi y'all! Well, my job at 1800flowers.com didn't pan out. They sold out to another company, who laid everyone from 18f off within 6 months. Glad I didn't go, was a gut feeling, ya know?

Now I'm a Tupperware Consultant! I'm having a ball with new people, and new products! What I would love to do is see if I can get 3 people that would like to have an online party with me! Super easy! I set you up, we start the party, and you give your link to everyone you know!

Let me know who would like to be my Hostesses for the month of September!

Thank y'all so much!

Daddislilgrrl (Lisa)