Do you have a career? What is a career?

One must understand that a career goes beyond merely working. Many Americans work all their adult lives without having a career.

In fact, some people sacrifice their careers for other things. Mothers often give up careers to raise their children.

What exactly are they sacrificing?

There are two definitions that might help us here. The word career can be defined as “a course of continued progress.” In other words, your career is a purposeful course that you follow over time in making the most of your skills and abilities.

The other definition is perhaps more familiar. A career is “a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling.”

There are some pretty important words in that definition. Perhaps the most telling are the last two. Your career has to do with the thing you undertake to do as a “permanent calling.” In this sense, raising children may be a career in itself.

Do you have a permanent calling? Have you ever thought about this, or do you just work for a living?

Life is too short to work for a living. You will only pass this way once, and the older you get, the more you will realize how fleeting life is. We should not spend our days working for a living. We should spend them pursuing a strong passion (or set of passions) to which we feel called.

If you do not have a permanent calling, this would be a wonderful time to ask yourself what might best fit who you are and wish to become.