Career vs. Vocation – The What and the How
Do you know the difference between a career and a vocation? Well, for one thing, not everyone has a career, but everyone does have a vocation.
I define career as what you choose to do to earn a living. It is not who you are, despite how identified some people may become with their career or job title. Who we are is the same for everyone (life’s expression of itself); what we do is different amongst groups of people and may change throughout your life. Your vocation, however, is how you do what you do.
For some people this expresses itself quite literally through their chosen career; someone with a calling to be a healer becoming a doctor or nurse, for example. For others it may not be so obvious; someone with a calling to be a teacher working for a large retailer in sales may end up training all the new staff and ultimately end up in corporate training full time. The point is that your vocation, your calling, will find a way to come out in everything you do because it characterizes HOW you do things.
Now, in considering this for yourself, you may wonder what your vocation is. Some people have an aptitude for a variety of things, teaching, healing, leadership, etc. Take a good look at all aspects of your life, how you think about things, how you interact with others, how you problem solve. These can all give you clues as to what your vocation really is. It’s taken me a while to figure out my own, whether it was healing or teaching, since I love both and have an aptitude for both. However, when I looked at both in the larger context of my life, I realized that even the teaching I do is about healing and I believe that a lot of people receive healing when they attend a workshop with me.
I also believe that vocations are not as widespread as careers, there is a shorter list and it is built upon some clear archetypes. I have included my list here, though I make no claims that it is complete! If you discover you have a vocation that I have not included on my list, please feel free to leave a comment or email me:)
VOCATIONS
Healer
Teacher
Philosopher
Leader
Entertainer
Rescuer
Artist
Builder
Inventor
Nurturer
Adventurer
