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joshrp
Guest
Hi,
I don’t know what I want to be. How do I go about figuring this out?
Joshua
I don’t know what I want to be. How do I go about figuring this out?
Joshua
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PiousTemplar
Guest
Prayer, thought, and retreats. God Bless.
C
Captain_America
Guest
I would point out merely that there really IS a bit of logic to consider.
(a) It is highly unlikely that the Devil, Satan, Lucifer, would intentionally steer someone toward a priestly or religious vocation.
(b) It is an enormous blessing to be told by God what to do! In our time, we have usually a good many pathways to pick. . . and how can a person do any better than hearing direction from God Himself!
The only other thing to say to you is that an older guy, a guy with some experience of life, is usually of great value to you here. He’s had a chance to wrestle with some of these questions, has notion of how things work and should be able to make some constructive suggestions.
And I would avoid anonymous internet advice (even such as this!) since I do not know you or your situation AT ALL. People you know are good to turn to.
(a) It is highly unlikely that the Devil, Satan, Lucifer, would intentionally steer someone toward a priestly or religious vocation.
(b) It is an enormous blessing to be told by God what to do! In our time, we have usually a good many pathways to pick. . . and how can a person do any better than hearing direction from God Himself!
The only other thing to say to you is that an older guy, a guy with some experience of life, is usually of great value to you here. He’s had a chance to wrestle with some of these questions, has notion of how things work and should be able to make some constructive suggestions.
And I would avoid anonymous internet advice (even such as this!) since I do not know you or your situation AT ALL. People you know are good to turn to.
C
Catholic90
Guest
What are you good at? What do you enjoy? What are your interests? What are your strengths?
J
joshrp
Guest
I enjoy theology, philosophy, science, music, history, economics, politics, psychology, art, poetry, literature, writing, teaching, healing, helping people, and probably some other things I can’t think of.
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White_Peony
Guest
Pray, pray, pray!!! The Father has a plan for you, let Him execute that plan! Dive into your Bible. El Shaddai will allow His plan become clearer and clearer.
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Oren
Guest
I don’t know what I want to be either. So, I’m right there with you. This has probably been the biggest source of discouragement for me for almost the ten years since I’ve become Catholic. I don’t know how you get to the answer but all I do is keep praying and trusting and try not to be discouraged.
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barb_finnegan
Guest
Hey, I know how you feel-I’ve been a Catholic all of my 57 years, and I still don’t know what to do with my life, either!
The worse thing is being alone. I don’t have anyone ‘with skin on’ whom I can go to talk with about my situation.
I keep my praying, and trying not to be discouraged, too…but you know, it’s JUST HARD…
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Oren
Guest
I don’t have family who are Catholic or Christian and I don’t have any friends either, so I don’t have anyone to talk to about it either. I’m thinking of trying spiritual direction…but I’ve always had a hard time talking openly to other people face to face and I’m always worried about non orthodox ‘catholics’ in positions like that. I think it may be time to take a leap of faith on that though because I always hear people say you should have a spiritual director, and esp. I’ve read the saints and they almost always say that too.
J
Julia_Mae
Guest
Howcum when you ask a child what they want to be when they grow up, they never say “Close to God?” or “Honest.” anyway…
I knew what I wanted to be. It was hard to be it, but I fought very hard. Only when I got to be it, it wasn’t what I wanted to be.
Then I stumbled over something that interested me sort of casually. But I really liked learning about it and never stopped liking learning about it and ended up being what, if someone had told me I wanted to be that before, I would laugh in their face pretty hard.
This is what I think now I’m old and don’t have to be anything anymore. The least important thing is what you do for a living and the most important thing is how you do your living. Life is long and full. Do what’s interesting, learn what fascinates you, be kind to everyone along the way and walk through doors that open.
J
joshrp
Guest
I want to pray. But I’d like to live as long as I can to be able to do that.
I’ve been praying for people almost nonstop on these forums for hours and I’m not even tired. I was busy all day long doing things and talking to people and going out to a pool, and helping my aunt and cousins go grocery shopping.
My passion is to pray. I don’t know if you can call that a job or anything though. I’d like to do other things also, but I don’t really know what those other things are. I honestly wish I could do everything, but that is not a very workable idea, now, is it?
J
Julia_Mae
Guest
I don’t know, I sure gave it a good try. Still am. Are you married? If not, you can pray for a living: Monkdom or Friarism may be in your future. Remember, that the religious life often involves lots of intellectual enterprise. If the celibate life is not for you, think of teaching in a nice Catholic University.
Instead of wondering what to do, ask yourself what you’d like your life to look like? You can be in a lay order and devote yourself to prayer and still build a dam in Rwanda or raise a buncha kids while working in a genetics lab on Long Island.
I was a cop when I was young because you never know what you are going to do when you go to work. To do it well takes every bit of everything you’ve got, in the action part, the investigation, the courtroom, and besides, they give you cool toys and sirens and stuff. But it does tear up your heart. If I had to do it again, I’d go into forensics.
Then I went into paleoanthropology because it fascinated me and I knew we were never going to figure it all out, but I could do a a piece of it. I did fossil prep because it was always a challenge and a puzzle to solve and you have to pretty much invent new techniques for every specimen. From micro work under a microscope to great big ol’ dino bones, in the lab, out in the field, how much fun is that?
I was always a writer, in all the jobs I did. I wanted to be challenged all the time. I like to work independently but within parameters. I didn’t want to start a business or be a boss. Sometimes I had to be a boss, anyway, but mostly I just wanted the freedom to do my thing and do a good job.
I did a lot of stuff for the Church, I wrote plays and things and other stuff, but I most loved being the sacristan, because I had huge volumes of time in church to do contemplation and I got to make things all clean and rearrange the way things worked and develop an inventory system and play with all the Church stuff. Of course, that doesn’t pay. But it’s still great stuff to do in life.
Then I couldn’t get around as well, so I started playing poker. I mastered one game, wrote a book about it.
I tell you all of this so you know: you can try to do it all.
And you’ll do a lot of it. Ask yourself some questions like the answers I have to how I like to work, And this isn’t that momentous a decision unless you are considering a vocation. You get to change your mind later. Stay healthy, take care of yourself and you’ll have the energy and lifespan for at least three careers and many hobbies. Most of the great fossils are found by volunteers.Throw out your TV set and go do what you love. That’s my advice.
Pray for me. That’s my request.
God bless you abundantly in your quest.
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