Coelho asks, "Why is it so important to live our personal calling if we are only going to suffer more than other people?" This question/conversation comes up often with my friends who are pursuing, or want to pursue, their personal calling. Mainly, the question is not whether to pursue our personal calling, but how to financially support ourselves during the pursuit. How long would you be willing to work at [insert day job here] in order to support your filmmaking dreams, while your friends are buying homes and vacationing around the world? At what point do you go after the fallback career, or if you have one, to fall back into that fallback career?
Coehlo answers this question of "why": "Because, once we have overcome the defeats--and we always do--we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life." And my favorite quote: "Intense, unexpected suffering passes more quickly than suffering that is apparently bearable; the latter goes on for years and, without our noticing, eats away at our soul, until, one day, we are no longer able to free ourselves from the bitterness and it stays with us for the rest of our lives."
For my friends who have asked, "Why this pursuit?", and "For how long?", I think the answer can only be answered by the individual asking the question. But IMHO, I think that the commitment to the pursuit makes us more fulfilled. And isn't that what we're striving for?
4 comments:
Thanks Aart! I've been to his blog a few times through his myspace page. I love his writing. Whenever I feel like I need a dose of inspiration, I look to Coelho.
Hey Christina,
I can totally relate to what you are going through. The best advice I can give you is just to go for it and follow you passions. With that I leave you this quote:
They find that life has purpose, clarity and meaning, and doing what they love - their passion - becomes their prime motivator. They also begin to consider how their lives might benefit others rather than seeking constant self-gratification and comfort in every situation; such as high-fliers in financial institutions who re-evaluate their lives, follow their feelings, embrace life with a renewed sense of confidence and "downshift" to put their quality of life first. Their fears around not having enough as they compete to keep up with the Joneses dissipates, and doing what really interests, inspires and fulfills them fuels their joy for living. This may involve turning a hobby or a passion into a living, and include an element of giving selflessly instead of taking endlessly. Life fills with purpose instead of feeling manic, trapped and mundane, and no longer are they too tired, jaded, miserable and burned out to enjoy it.
"Materialistic pursuits are not a path to sustainable happiness. A mass of evidence shows people who have
more materialistic goals are less happy than those who focus on intrinsic aims such as relationships or personal
growth."
~ James Montier [Global equity strategist]
They find that life has purpose, clarity and meaning, and doing what they love - their passion - becomes their prime motivator. They also begin to consider how their lives might benefit others rather than seeking constant self-gratification and comfort in every situation; such as high-fliers in financial institutions who re-evaluate their lives, follow their feelings, embrace life with a renewed sense of confidence and "downshift" to put their quality of life first. Their fears around not having enough as they compete to keep up with the Joneses dissipates, and doing what really interests, inspires and fulfills them fuels their joy for living. This may involve turning a hobby or a passion into a living, and include an element of giving selflessly instead of taking endlessly. Life fills with purpose instead of feeling manic, trapped and mundane, and no longer are they too tired, jaded, miserable and burned out to enjoy it.
"Materialistic pursuits are not a path to sustainable happiness. A mass of evidence shows people who have
more materialistic goals are less happy than those who focus on intrinsic aims such as relationships or personal
growth."
~ James Montier [Global equity strategist]
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure".
Helen Keller
thanks for your comments. it's interesting that after i wrote this blog, i came upon a couple of other articles/videos on this very topic of following our dreams. one was posted on wsj.com, in the careers section, about this successful banker who left it all to become a chef, and the other was the "dying professor's last lecture" at CMU that can be found on youtube (and interviewed on diane sawyer a few days back). he mentioned how he followed each of his childhood dreams and learned from each pursuit. one main lesson was something like "brick walls are there to discourage those who don't really want something" (i'm probably mucking up his quote). the point being that we shouldn't let obstacles stand in the way of our dreams.
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