“Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” ~Virgil
I had someone today tell me that some of his workdays are ok, but that most days were like “a punch in the stomach.”
And it made me sad… and it made me grateful.
I was raised with the idea that I could do and be anything I wanted. I was taught that I should leave the world a better place by my work, and I was assured that that work could be something I loved.
When I was a junior in high school, I had an English teacher, Mrs. DiMaggio, who, after reading our practice college entrance essays, declared herself disgusted with us. She was furious; it seems that, in general, our papers were about money.
“You people,” she said to us, “you people need to understand that you are going to spend more time at your jobs than you will with your families. You will spend more time at your jobs than you will with your lovers, so it had better be something you LOVE.
It would be nice,” she went on to say, “if they would pay me a million dollars to be a teacher. But you couldn’t pay me a million dollars not to be.”
That was the day I told my parents I wasn’t going to law school; I was going to theatre school instead. And, while they were scared for me, they let me follow my passion.
Fifteen years later, having reached my goal of being a professional actor, I realized I wasn’t happy. Because I had my parents’ permission to go where my heart and soul might take me, and I had Mrs. DiMaggio’s admonishment that I must, as difficult as it was to leave behind what had been my life’s driving force, I knew I was doing the right thing.
And I found my calling, my work, my passion, my joy and myself.
And today I was reminded just how fortunate I am.
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~Attributed to Howard Thurman