Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard King  I have not yet found my "calling" and I am 52 years old.
It has hurt me recently in job interviews where some really young person with several decades less experience tells me..."Mr. King it seems like you have bounced around a lot. That raises a red flag with me." |
I love raising red flags. Perhaps, that, more than anything has been my calling.
My majors in college: Geophysical Engineering, Music (performance and composition), Humanities, Physics, Range Science, and Soil Science. I graduated with a BS in Soil Science and a minor in French. I paid for school by raising cattle, being a sheepherder, being a custom harvester, and doing contract research jobs. My calling at the time was to be a farmer, which I did for a number of years.
But it didn't pay well so I supplemented my income by being an aerial applicator (the official name for "crop duster") and did some consulting overseas in agriculture.
But my real calling seemed to be law. I come from a long line of lawyers and avoided it as much as possible until injury and economics sent me to law school. I was in my 30s when that happened.
The odd thing was that I never really had a "job" for which I applied and was interviewed until my 40s, and that was with a law firm after I had been in practice on my own for 8 years. I mostly just jumped at opportunities as they came up. My default approach was to say yes to any strange challenge that presented itself, and then worry about how I was going to accomplish it. Not a very well-thought approach, but it led to interesting moments (like picnicking at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates while Iranian shells were flying overhead).
Some people have their calling in front of them plain as can be. For others, like me, it may take a long time. I think the important thing is to do whatever is before you to the best of your ability.
Perhaps I was reckless in my approach, but when I was 18 and in my first year of college an oil company presented me a contract for employment for a tremendous amount of money after I graduated. They offered to pay the rest of my tuition and were discussing retirement benefits. I was a young firebrand and the offer scared me to death. I don't know why, really, but having my life mapped out to retirement sent me running to the eclectic hills. And it probably was a good thing. A friend took the offer. The oil bust hit 4 years later and he was in Houston, out of work, and asking me for a job.