Many of us have had an experience that shaped us. It touched us deeply and lit a passion inside of us. In this way, a significant experience can help determine our life’s calling.
Sometimes it was a negative experience. We were left to do a lot of work in healing. Then, our passion becomes to prevent such experiences or to help other people get through a similar difficult experience.
Other times it is a profoundly positive experience. In this case, we are motivated to bless other people in the same way we were blessed.
Over the years, I have been watching people identify significant experiences and connect them to the impact they desire for their lives. Following are some real-life examples to show what I mean.
- A woman who was sexually abused as a little girl is now passionate about helping women process their anger in a healthy, productive way.
- A cosmetic dentist is helping other dentists to understand their impact on their patients because as a child she was carelessly treated as an object by her orthodontist.
- A man who suffered a heart attack and found himself asking if he had loved others well and if his life mattered is now compelled to help other people evaluate those questions and answer them well
- A coach/trainer is helping people share their message through public speaking because she herself was punished with silence as a child.
- A cancer survivor is giving cancer patients hope for the future because he himself survived the cancer.
- A woman who had struggled with chronic illness is showing people how to find health through natural foods.
- A therapist is helping her clients in the same way she received help from her own therapist when she was in great need
I encourage you to consider what experiences have shaped you in your own life. How might you leverage that experience to benefit other people?
This exercise may or may not lead you toward your calling. But it’s definitely worth considering.
