FINDING WHAT YOU WERE BORN TO DO

 

FINDING WHAT YOU WERE BORN TO DO.

Some of us know what we are born to do for a living.

My oldest son pretty much always knew he wanted to be an architect. My artist friends know they NEED to create.

But some of us kind of got lost along the way. Me, for instance.. I have a business degree. AND an MBA. What was I thinking?

Well, I was thinking …hmmm…might be nice to eat. 

Who makes a living as an ARTIST?

No one I knew.

My dad was a business guy in corporate America, my college friends were going to be accountants (Julie), doctors (Teresa), physicists (Kary), teachers (Suzanne) and psychologists (Russ). 

They teased me about looking down from their offices,  watching me sell my paintings on the street corner (my father’s worst fear, really.)

So I took a few business classes because the marketing field was creative. Took a few more. Decided I wanted to be a brand manager for a consumer products company.  So I got a Marketing degree. And an MBA. Because to be a brand manager for a consumer products company you need an MBA. I’m about to graduate and the career counselor lines up, guess how many brand manager opportunities?

One.

One job, how many applicants? Lots.

I was 23, I didn’t know how to actually go about getting that job. During the interview, I remember focusing on how creative I was. I probably should have focused on my strong business skills. So I ended up working as a project manager and then an account executive for a payroll and Human Resources software company. And I liked it.

Somewhere in the next 10 years I realized that I really missed that creative ‘artsy’ person that I was in my youth.

In his book Living in your Sweet Spot, Max Lucado instructs the reader to recall from childhood what you did well and what you enjoyed the most. The exercises make you think about your strengths, your aptitude and really what God intended you to do.

So here I sit, 25+ years after college.

I am an artist.

I sell my paintings. I create designs for products. I have found my way full circle. Several years ago, I told my high school friend Teresa that I was thinking about going back to school to get a degree in Graphic Design.

She said, “Well, that’s what you always wanted to do.” 

As my kids would say – Duh!

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you were a kid? Maybe that’s what you job you were born to do?

What were you born to do?

 

Want to read more about living creatively? This post is about balancing art and family.