It’s the first week of May, and May 1 is traditionally May Day, International Workers’ Day. It’s one of those holidays that I learned about when I was in the third grade, and the image of May Day stuck with me over the years. This week we’re going to talk about the area of our life called vocation, that place in our life where we are called to work. Let’s get going.

Welcome to the Unlock Your Life podcast, a podcast for highly successful visionary women who want more out of life. If you feel that ache of unfulfillment in your soul, you’re in the right place sis. Join life mastery consultant Lori A. Harris as she teaches you how to stop living for others and finally put yourself first. Let’s dive into today’s show.

So, when I was in third grade, I had a teacher named Mrs. Domingo, and she taught us about May Day. May Day is May 1^st, and it’s International Workers’ Day. We were taught how to create a May Day pole, which was a pull that we decorated, and then we could dance around the May Day pole. We also made May Day baskets. But the image of celebrating work and one’s work never really left me.

As a coach, you know, people are invited to niche down, to concentrate on one area of life. That’s not really what I do in my work. In my work, I work with people in four areas, quadrants, domains. Health, relationships, vocation, time and money freedom.

When we talk about vocation, vocation the word comes from the Latin root, to call. Vocare. It’s a beautiful thing when the work that we do, when we spend the lion’s share of our daily awake hours doing the work is a beautiful thing. When that work does feel like a calling, and advocation is something that we feel compelled to do that we do joyfully. That we are called into the world to serve.

Now, since it is an area of life where we are going to spend a great deal of our time, it’s a beautiful thing when it’s something that you love to do. So at this moment, I invite you to think about the work that you’re doing.

Vocation doesn’t have to be the work that you do in exchange for money for the day to day survival of life. It could be your creative expression. It could be your creative expression, and the work that you do for day to day existence here in the world. You get to decide. But when we look at those four quadrants of life—health, relationship, time and money freedom, and vocare. When we put them all together, that’s what comprises our whole life.

So take a moment with me at this time to consider your work, the work. When you think of the work that you are doing in the world, this will light you up. Is that a way for you to serve and to be of service in a way that’s fulfilling to your soul? Are you the kind of person that when you think of work, it brings an area of pride and satisfaction to your life?

Or when you think about your work, perhaps you’re noticing that is a little less satisfying than might have been in earlier years. Are you finding that it does not bring you joy? That you don’t look forward to going to work or the service that you provide? When you think about your work on a scale from one to five, one being not very satisfying at all and five being extraordinarily satisfying, where do you fall? What feels good to you?

This is an opportunity for you to really dive in and dive deep and think about what kind of life it is that you want to be living. What are you willing to do to invest in being the kind of person that is living life that’s satisfying to you a regular and repeated basis?

So, are you a person who’s stuck or feels stuck doing a job that you don’t like? Or do you have work that you like, but you work too many hours and you would love to have more freedom. More freedom to be with your family. More freedom to attend to other things outside of the work that light you up. Do you dread going to work every day? Or are you a person that has had a lot of success, and you’re still curious to see, “Well, how far can I go? How far will this work take me? How much can I achieve?”

When you look at the work, are you involved in work that lights you up? That is, in fact, a response to a calling that allows you to light up an area of your life and your heart and your brain that is exciting to you. That is a great expression of who you are and who you want to be. Think about the work.

Now many of the people that are in my community that listen to the podcast are people who love to be in service. Love to give, give of themselves, and  have their work have meaning because it makes life better for someone else. If that’s you, I invite you to be reminded what it means to be in service.

So as you think about being of service and doing work that is a service to the community or particular community specifically. I’ll never forget a young woman I worked with that had been exposed to human trafficking. When invited to comment on what was the most important thing that she wanted people to know, she said, “Don’t pity me.” I never forgot it. I think it’s a very powerful message.

That when we find ourself in work that allows us to serve, and in an effort to make things better for others come from a place of kinship and support rather than othering people or trying to be a giver from a place of I’m up here, you’re down there. But when possible, when you can keep it top of mind, try our best to be a person that comes from a place of kinship.

That I don’t know better than you, but I would love to make an offer to you of a way that one might approach this thing called life. Here is an array of options for you, and I think you’re wonderful. These are some things that I think you might consider that could make life for you even better.

So when we can come from a place of kinship and connection in our service rather than up high serving down low but coming from a place of true look you in the eye partnership on equal footing, sometimes our messages of support can land and be received on soft and fertile ground when we’re coming from a place of equanimity and equality is something to consider.

So when you think about vocation, consider what is your creative calling? Is it something that truly lights you up and that you’re responding to on a regular and repeated basis? Is it in fact something that you do in exchange for money in the day to day survival of life? Or is it something completely different? There’s something I do for work, and my vocation is something completely different. And never the two come together because I want to keep them separate. That’s one way to approach the call, vocare, vocation.

So make a decision in that area of your life. When you do that life assessment of vocation satisfaction on scale from one to five, one being not very satisfied at all, and five being very, very satisfied, consider what are the things you might be willing and able to do to lift up your day to day experience? Want to have a better experience in the work? Well, how might we do that?

Well, it starts with how we start anything. We start with a vision. Stop, pause, reflect, and reduce to writing the thing that you most want in your area of work. Describe the kind of work you would love to be doing. What does it feel like? What are your colleagues like? How often are you going into an office? Are you going into an office at all? Describe your ideal, wonderful, beautiful work situation? Get it down on writing.

And then you can get about the business of becoming the person that’s living that life. Be the person who is. As you make an effort to go toward that life, to make your work a hell yes versus ugh, okay. When we’re going to where to hell yes, what does that look like?

Well, in the work that you’re already doing, use your calendar as a tool to support you in the life that you actually want to be living. Look at your week, each week on a Sunday evening, and plan for what you want your week to look like. Use your calendar as a roadmap throughout the week to get you where you want to go.

The next thing you can do is now that you’ve reduced it to arriving, you’re using your calendar as your roadmap. These are two additional things to support you physically in being the person who’s living that life. First, make sure that you are each day getting some form of physical activity. Be it a brief walk or stretch or a little bit of yoga but honor your body for the work that it is able to do for you in supporting you in doing all the work. And it will lift your physical spirit and your mental spirit so that you can come to your work with greater ease and greater clarity.

Finally, rest. Never underestimate the power of rest. When you feel as though there’s lots of work to be done and you’re tempted to go into a state of overwhelm. While it can be tempting to push, push, push through, you will find that if you rest, you can come to the work with a greater freshness and greater ease and become a more effective worker.

So in the area of vocare, when you think about your work, is it something that lights you up? Is it a calling? Is it something that allows you to express yourself in a creative mode? Does it allow you to serve in a way that is in alignment with your core values? Are you serving from a place of equanimity and equality? Or are you looking from a top down point of view? What can you do from a place of kinship?

Get your vision for work in writing, and then work from that place of being the person that is. Your calendar is your roadmap. What you need most is daily movement and daily rest. These are the things that will make your vocare a place of safety and even wonder.

Thanks for listening. You’ve been listening to the Unlock Your Life podcast. This has been episode 44, and we’re going into the springtime celebrating May. With May Day, we’re reminded of the work and hopefully you’re bringing great joy and vitality to your work. If you enjoyed this episode of the podcast, please share it with a friend. You can find us anywhere you listen to podcast. It is available on Apple podcast where you can follow, rate, and review the show. Well, it’s your life. Make it a great one.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the Unlock Your Life podcast. If you want more information on how you can transform your life and do it quickly, visit loriaharris.com. See it on the next episode of the Unlock Your Life podcast.