The Refusal of the Call

Last week I wrote about the Call to Adventure and mentioned that I would follow up with comments on the Refusal of the Call. If you sense a new adventure awaits you in life and for whatever reason you refuse to take steps to pursue the adventure, you can probably expect one of the following outcomes:

• Life will "dry up" and become uninteresting. You might feel as if you have "been there...done that" as you approach your daily activities. Things that previously excited and energized you will no longer do so. Feelings of restlessness might drive you to seek various forms of "medication" such as overindulging in food, drink, TV watching, buying grown-up toys, etc. to counter your increasing level of boredom with the status quo. Or...

• The forces of the universe (in various forms such as chance, serendipity, synchronicity, disaster, misfortune, accidental occurrences, an injury or financial setback that prevents you from pursuing your current life path, etc.) will "kick you in the seat of the pants" and force you to pursue the adventure (a new position with your current employer, a job with a different employer, starting your own business, a new relationship or marriage or any event that catapults you out of your normal world).

Getting up in the morning and looking in the mirror with regret and dread rather than joy and excitement every so often is no big deal. That's a normal part of the ups and downs of life. It's when you notice an ongoing pattern of regret and dread that you might want to challenge your life-path assumptions and think about the fact that a new adventure might be seeking your attention.

So...if you are tired of being bored or being booted around by the universe...what do you do about it? How do you detect or discover your next Call to Adventure? Follow the energy trail. It's similar to the game we played as kids when someone told you if you were getting "hot" or "cold" as you wandered around a room looking for a secret object. Look for small, medium and large things or activities that energize you...they are clues that you are getting closer to your calling. Consider small, medium and large things or activities that drain you...they are clues that you are moving away from your calling. Keep playing the game until you develop a "knowing" (or at least a sense of relative certainty) that you are on the right path. Be patient with the process...keep experimenting with new things and you will eventually discover your calling.

P.S. Special note to some of my personal friends on the topic of discovering your calling: I think you are getting very close! Callings do not always call for radical changes in your lives. Sometimes minor tweaks make all the difference in the world. Sometimes guardians of the threshold (to a new adventure) are just trying to test your resolve and make sure you are truly ready for your new adventure. Trust your instincts and forge on if it feels right.      

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Chris Crouch, president of DME Training and Consulting, has spent years researching and studying both the mental and physical aspects of being productive.