Planning Transition: Vocation, Occupation, Career

Life is a series of transitions.  Like Gandalf leading the Fellowship of the Ring through the Mines of Mordor, we arrive at a new place with a series of different options or directions, and say as he did in the movie, “I have no memory of this place.”  My family faces a transition next year after three decades of federal service.  Life will not be the same.  “I have no memory of this place.”  How do we choose the right direction?  Perhaps it begins with listening.

Our vocation is what we are passionate about.  (Vocation: a calling, from the Latin “vocatio,” or “voctus,” past participle of “vocare,” ”to call.”)  We naturally exercise those talents we enjoy. With the practice that comes from the joy of exercising these passions, we come progressively better at them.

We can often identify elements of vocation in our family life, in our work and in our leisure.  What are the things each day that get us out of bed, that we look forward to, that bring us joy and a sense of purpose?  I realize for myself that my vocation generally includes some combination of the triad: to lead, to teach, and to serve.  The common denominator of the three is people.  What drew me to clinical medicine is what draws me to leadership and academics: I like being around, learning from and perhaps even positively influencing others.  I like seeing them exercise their own talents, working toward a common purpose and finding their own vocations.  Realizing this truth about myself required me to listen carefully to my own calling, my vocation.

Our occupation is what pays the bills.  Growing up, I been paid as a grounds-keeper, lawn mower, dishwasher, summer-camp and restaurant cook.  I have also worked on the combat-arms side of the Army and have worked as a nursing assistant.  If we are very fortunate, we find the opportunity to exercise our vocation in the context of our occupation.  But that is not always the case.

I have a good friend who drives a bus in Hawaii.  He is an artist.  He shapes and paints artwork on surfboards. He is also a talented musician.  I suspect he would say that his vocation is his art, and his occupation driving the bus allows him to care for his family and makes his vocation possible.  But I also believe that he has a vocation to care for others; something he exercises every day driving the bus.  Sometimes we can find elements of our vocation in our occupation even if we haven’t seen them there before.  It begins with first listening to and knowing our vocation, our calling.

Our career is what we see when we look back over our shoulders.  Ideally, our résumé or curriculum vitae is a map of the places we have been, the occupations and opportunities we have encountered as we have looked for ways to exercise our vocation throughout our lives.  We should no more direct our future by merely focusing on what is good for our careers than we would attempt to drive forward using only the rear-view mirror.   Some of the most unhappy people I have met seem trapped in jobs that they chose because they thought that it would help “their careers.”

It is too easy to become fixated on the next rung in the latter as a measure of how far we have traveled from the ground, or how far above others we have ascended, rather than remembering the purpose for the climb.  It is poor reasoning to climb merely to reach the top-most rung.  It is too easy trap for any of us.  One of the keys to avoiding still being the rat at the end of the rat race (Lily Tomlin) is to listen: What is my vocation? What is my calling?   And how can I exercise my vocation in this or any position?

And so my family enters a period of transition.  We’re not sure which way things will go, which passage-way is the right one.  And certainly not all the options are up to us.  We hope to approach the decision as a family, by thinking about our vocations, by looking for occupations that allow us to exercise vocation, and by allowing our careers to serve as the journey’s journal.

It is a journey unlimited by a strictly defined destination.  We wouldn’t want it any other way.

Chuck Callahan  Henry V 4.3 – Lead from the Front  https://henryv43.wordpress.com/