Springing Forward

I can now finally wake up in the mornings without cursing my existence, for temperatures have risen along with the Sun, and I don't have to worry about cold toilet seats and that incredibly difficult decision to step out of a warm shower into the cold air bubble that is the rest of my abode - SPRING IS HERE!

Most associate spring with new beginnings, growth, the ground smelling like manure after festering under snow piles for six months, etc. This year also happens to mark my venture into the real world after I finish my undergraduate studies at the end of the month; which, as of now, entails a lot of uncertainty.

My parents want me to have a well-paying, high-status job, my friends want me to have any sort of job at all so that I can go out for drinks without counting pennies (or should I say nickels... Canada has entered a new age, my friends), and my acquaintances don't care because they have better things to worry about. Amidst all that, I have to figure out who is right - get a job that looks good in a matrimony ad, or get a job, period. But most important of all, I want to figure out what I think is right for me.

My mother and father dearest have this horrible habit of always being right, which has caused me much anguish during my teenage years. Their years of wisdom compel them to give me career advice that I would be foolish not to heed. And yet, the heart does not work with reason, and I cannot help but feel that I was not put on this planet only to make other people happy. I want to do something that makes me feel alive, that makes me feel like the work I do will leave a legacy behind for all of humanity to treasure; that I will be an inspiration well after I am dead and gone. I mean, if I love what I do, won't I automatically be successful and make others proud and happy?

To be honest, I do not have the faintest idea what my calling is (something with trees?!?!), but I am fortunate to be surrounded by people who are following their passions with no regard to the paycheque that follows. They do what they do simply because they love it and it makes them happy. It inspires me to find that one thing that lights my fire, because that is what I am meant to contribute to the world in this lifetime.

I am reading Harmonic Wealth by James Ray Arthur (2008; Hyperion, New York), and he tells a story (pg. 126) of an old man (your Average Joe) who dies and goes to heaven. He meets God and says, "What a mess down there, why didn't you send someone to fix it?"

God replies, "I did. I sent you." (My young, tender heart feels all the feels.)

So, are you doing what you were put on this planet to do?