Staying on Top When Your World's Upside Down

“In truth, everyone faces hardship and rejection and loss in their lives, even those who may appear to be blessed. There is another truth here: we are all blessed in some way. In a very real sense, all of us have a certain magic, a gift, a talent, or an ability that if developed and put to its highest use can help us overcome setbacks, defeats, and difficulties.”
Stedman Graham: You Can Make It Happen

Another personal story: for almost the entire 27 years that I was bound and determined to become the CEO of a big teaching hospital, I always had a side project that – though I never would have publicly admitted to the fact – I was more passionate about than I was my day job. In fact, looking back on it, I can see how these outside passions reflected a deep inner struggle between soul and ego. My ego desperately wanted to be a big shot CEO; my soul wanted to have work in which I felt as though I was making a bigger difference in the world, and also could have substantial control over how I chose to use my time.

These side ventures always shared several things in common: they were non-traditional, they were activist, initiative-focused on solving big problems, and they always involved a substantial degree of creative writing and public speaking. It was as if, even as I tried to suppress them in my quest to get a job that truth-be-told I was not called to do, these deeper gifts, talents, and abilities kept bubbling up to the surface. I was born to be a teacher and a writer, not an administrator.

Had I listened to what my soul was trying to tell me, I would have quit the hospital administration field much earlier and started Values Coach much sooner. Had I not been fired from my last “real” job I’m not sure when, or if, I would ever have found the courage to change paths and start the organization that is now Values Coach.

So we come back again to the central paradox: it is often only after your world has been turned upside down that you are finally able to acknowledge, embrace, and pursue your God-given gifts and become the person you are meant to be.