Personal Calling by Chris

Personal Calling by Chris - February 2014 Scholarship Essay

“What is a personal calling? It is God’s blessing, it is the path that God chose for you here on earth.” This was said by one of my favorite authors, Paulo Coelho. He says this in his most famous work, “The Alchemist.” Throughout the book he explains personal callings; he says that “When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.” He explains that “however, we don’t all have the courage to confront our own dream.” He says there are four obstacles that inhibit us from realizing our dream. Knowing these obstacles has influenced me and helped me get to where I am today.

“First: we are told from childhood onward that everything we want to do is impossible. We grow up with this idea, and as the years accumulate, so do the layers of prejudice, fear, and guilt. There comes a time when our personal calling is so deeply buried in our soul as to be invisible.” The first time I truly encountered this obstacle was when I was 13. My mom and her boyfriend were sitting at the table with me during dinner. She had asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I told her I wanted to be a lawyer. All they did was laugh. I was confused and asked “why are you laughing” they told me it was because they thought I was lazy. They said my grades were mediocre and I couldn’t even keep my room clean, so how could I manage the high power career that comes with being a lawyer? Where most people would’ve been dismayed in having this said to them, I knew this was only an obstacle. People will always tell you what you can and can’t do. And it’s these people who cause your personal calling to be buried under doubt and fear. The only thing that can resolve this is the courage to disinter your dream.

“Second Obstacle: love. We know what we want to do, but are afraid of hurting those around us by abandoning everything in order to pursue our dream. We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will prevent us from going forward.” I haven’t experience this obstacle first hand yet in my life. But I have witnessed it happen. When my sister graduated from college, she decided it was time to move out. My mom was insistent that she stay at home, and save her money. My mom assured her that it would be no strings attached; she wouldn’t need to pay rent. My sister saw this as my mother holding her back. She accused my mom of trying to hold her back because she was not accepting the fact that her little girl was moving out. But in reality she was trying to push her forward. My mom knew my sister was eager to follow her dreams, but she also knew that she would benefit from spending time at home, saving up money, paying off her student loans, and getting back on her feet. She did what she could to help my sister. When we are following their dreams, we sometimes forget that those who we love us will do anything for us, and they are genuinely happy when we reach our goals. The only way to overcome this obstacle is to accept that love doesn’t hold us back, it pushes us forward.

“Third Obstacle: fear of defeats we will meet on the path. We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn’t work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: ‘Oh, well I didn’t really it anyway.’ We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it” I know all too much about this obstacle. We all do. Everyone has defeats; they come in the form of setbacks. They prevent us temporarily from reaching our goal. Sometimes they get the better of us. They make us think that we can’t do it, or that we weren’t meant to do it. And this will eat away at you and cause bitterness. We cannot let these setbacks discourage us, because we have worked too hard to get where we are. The only way we overcome these defeats is by not letting them cloud our desire to follow our dream.

“Fourth Obstacle: fear of realizing the dream for which we fought all our lives” Oscar Wilde once said: “Each man kills the thing he loves.” When were on the verge of accomplishing our dream, we feel guilty. This is because time and time again we have seen people fail to accomplish their dreams. This makes us feel like we are not worthy, or do not deserve to succeed when a majority of people don’t have that privilege. I learned that the way to overcome this is that we need to remember everything we’ve invested in reaching our dream.

I believe that knowing what to do when I encounter these obstacles will help me succeed in life. I do not know what my personal calling is yet, and that’s ok, I’m young and some people spend their whole lives trying to discover that. But I think I can discover my personal calling in college. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my essay.