Five reasons

Why should you bother trying to find a career, or live a life for that matter, that is a fit with who you are?

1. Life is short

Your days are numbered. Really, they are. You only have a limited number – 30,000 maybe, if you are lucky. Some who are reading this will only live to see 15,000 if that. Having already hit fifteen grand myself, I guess I can’t complain. As you consider the days that remain, why would you want to spend your limited time trying to be something that you are not? To the extent that you have the freedom to choose, why not choose just to be yourself?

2. God is real

This means that you have a maker. This also means that you were presumably made for a purpose. With this in mind, becoming yourself means much more than merely doing whatever you happen to feel like doing with your life; it means trying to discern and fulfill God’s purpose for your life.

Yes, I know, if you were God the world would be in much better shape than it is right now. Things would not have gone to pot so quickly under your watch. Surely all your friends would agree. Better cut yourself loose from God, you say, and just pursue your own purposes. But why not assume for the moment that God just might be a little bit smarter than you are, and that doing what God designed you to do is actually what is best for you?

3. People have needs

A career is all about providing a service to someone who needs it. People need food, water, shelter, clothes, roads, schools, security and health care. People need clean air to breath and healthy relationships. People need all sorts of things. People need God. And chances are that you will be most effective doings things for others that you are naturally good at.

It could be that you are a natural entertainer and are positioned to bring great joy to thousands of people during your lifetime. I forgot to mention earlier that people need to laugh and smile and forget about their problems every once in a while too. What would the world be like without Jim Unger and Herman cartoons? Wouldn’t we be missing something without people around like Bill Cosby and Mr. Bean?

4. Misery is overrated

Unless you are a gifted actor and entertainer, trying to impersonate someone else is a great way to get depressed and feel constantly drained. Hating your life may be a large clue that imitating others needs to come to an end. You may discover that you have dilly-dallied far too long in the depths of despair when you could have been moving towards a humdinger of a wing-ding life.

Joyce Meyer writes about how she tried to be just like the woman next door. She was the perfect homemaker: she made clothes for her family, she had a garden, she was a fantastic cook and a great decorator. Why it was like having Martha Stewart living right next door. But trying to be yet another Martha Stewart was making her miserable. As you may know, Joyce went on to realize that she was actually quite good at just being herself.

5. Some civilizations suck

Disrespect is not what I desire to communicate here. I merely hope to help a few blind people who are reading this to see.

There is a time and a place to celebrate diversity and also the odd occasion to point out that many people in the world are harassed by thugs. There are more nations that people would flee from if they could, than there are nations that people can run to. For all its faults, the Christian-based western world is a safe haven in a crazy world. To put it simply and dramatically: Everybody in the West needs to be doing what they can do best in order for our civilization to compete and survive, and continue to exert a positive influence on world affairs.

The builders need to get busy and start building things. The entrepreneurs need to dream big and then make it happen. The artistic people need to use their gifts to inspire others to do great things. The homemakers need to nurture young people who will shine in a dark world. Here in Canada, the folks at National Defence need to make us a force to be reckoned with. And on and on it goes.