Rocking Chair Test
Imagine yourself as an old woman sitting in your rocking chair on the front porch. Make yourself comfortable and take a good look back over your life. Look as far back as to where you are this very day, reading this article and wrestling with the decision; what should I do.
Then ask yourself:
What if I never ——————fill in your blank?
How would I feel?
Would my life be different?
Do I regret not taking the chance?
Will I always wonder what if?
And while you’re sat there rocking your day away, does it feel like something is missing? Is there a sadness or a longing or even an unanswered calling?
Now take it a little further and ask your “old” self;
How do I feel about the choices I’ve made and the life I’ve lived?
What are my regrets?
What do I wish I made time for?
Who do I wish I’d made time for?
What do I wish I had tried?
It’s true that in this life, we are more disappointed by the things we didn’t do than those we did. So if you’re old self is feeling a sense of regret during this process, take heed.
Use your answers as a road map to help you decide to go after something you really want and if that something is to answer your calling, which in turn may give you a whole different set of answers when you do the rocking chair test for real; then maybe that’s a sign that this is your time for change.
So now we’ve returned to the present. You’re out of your rocking chair, back in the room and you want to know
Can you combine your career with your calling?
In other words can you get paid for doing something you’re passionate about? When I refer to a calling this may be an awakening of sorts born from a spiritual experience(not religious) more commonly though it comes from a lived experience for example:
Some of the best addiction specialists are former addicts.
The best end -of -life practitionershave nursed a loved one up until their death.
The best quilters spent years quilting as a hobby before turning that into business.
In fact the best gardener I know has no formal training and fell into her calling after neighbours so admired her own garden they offered to pay her to do theirs. So she did and now she has a waiting list as long as her arm.
And she only works three months a year while the rest of the time she travels the world with her husband.
The point I make is; none of these women set out to make a career out of their calling it was something that evolved over time and probably couldn’t have happened to them any earlier than it did.
Harvesting Life’s Lessons 