The Dance

A friend of mine, beset by tragedy, approached me with a desire to make a difference in his community. He wanted to do more than he was already doing. Facebook debates and occasional donations to local charities was no longer enough. He’s willing to speak up, but doesn’t know where or how he can show up. 

Upon reflection, I realized that I have been engaged in active discernment of service to my community for 20 years. I have taken every opportunity to examine whether or not my next career move or volunteer opportunity would better the lives of older people and my community. 

For me, this has been a dance with two partners; avocation and vocation. My vocation? The particularly worthy pursuit of finding solutions and opportunities for older people as they age in our community; be it at home, with a relative, in some sort of organized assisted environment, or in an institution. I have worked with great people to promote independence, accessibility, and bring change to broken systems. This is my full time gig, I get paid for it and my family really appreciates that. I am fortunate in that my vocation has provided me with real life demonstrable opportunities to make our community a better place.

Then there is my avocation, or my part-time passion. It leads me to volunteer projects and other fun things that enhance my social life. For me, it is coaching, or volunteering for whatever organization my kids are into, and local politics. My avocation is temporary and driven by my interest and availability. In my case volunteering is where my vocation was born. I’m truly blessed in that I was 18 when this happened. Although, I didn’t know it at the time. What began as a keen interest developed into a career, a full time passion, and a reason to get up every morning and enthusiastically apply my skills to serious issues that I care about. I have seen others begin a career from an avocation. Some were 18, some were 58. I have seen established successful professionals pivot from their avocation into a new professional role that was rewarding and enriched their spirit.

So here’s my point. Are you looking at the next 20 years and thinking you would like things to be a little different? Do you have an avocation that is pulling you a little further in one direction now that your life circumstances have changed? Then I might suggest that you put down the binoculars, and take up a pair of bifocals. The tools and direction you need for the next chapter of your story may be right in front of you.