I got the following email recently:
Dear Ryan,
I am a college student.
I see so many problems in the world (homelessness, hunger, racism, etc.).
I want to use my career and my life to help.
Honestly, though, I don’t know what to do, or even where to start.
What advice do you have?
Cynthia
Cynthia’s existential crisis resonates in the deepest parts of my being.
A quarter century ago, that was me.
I can’t tell Cynthia what her path should be…
But there are five pieces of advice I would offer her and the younger version of myself…
#1 – BE PATIENT.
The universe (or fate or God or Allah or whatever name you have for THE mystery) calls us to service. Of that, I am sure.
But it is a whisper…
It would be more convenient if it screamed our names, but that’s just not how it works.
If you can find the quiet, though…
…If you can learn to listen…
…If you can seek out the stillness…
If you can do that, you will feel the gravitational pull of your call…
… in what makes you angry…
…in what makes you cry…
…in what makes you smile…
Practically speaking, I find that the twin extremes of JOY and SHAME are more helpful than the milder experiences.
Joy I will explain in a moment.
Shame, though, is perhaps our greatest guide. Here’s how…
Take a minute and think about the times in your life that you have been most ashamed of your actions.
(No, seriously, take a minute and think about it).
Don’t close yourself off from the pain.
Feel the searing heat of your failures.
Allow the sharp edges of your disappointment to draw blood.
In your moments of deepest shame, you have violated your deepest values.
They point towards your true north.
They are your calling.
Exploring your own shame is painful, but I am unaware of a better way of discerning your unique calling.
#2 – FIND JOY.
Saving the world is a difficult, tedious and painful journey.
Many people who embark on it grow cynical and angry along the way.
Such people are generally miserable—BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY—they rarely are able to actually make a difference.
Their bitterness repels others, and they lose the energy necessary to sustain the struggle over a lifetime.
The people who have the greatest impact on our world are those who experience the unique joy of serving something bigger than themselves.
Imagine the smile lines that cris-crossed Mother Therea’s sun-weathered face while she cared for the discarded…
…or the hearty belly laugh of Martin Luther King while he threw his body against the wall of American Apartheid…
…or the little grin of Gandhi while he stood nearly naked against wave after wave of the British empire.
Those three are the “famous ones,” but I can think of hundreds of unknown saints who laughed their way towards a kinder world.
Do not listen to the cynics.
It is not selfish to find joy in service.
Quite the contrary.
Joy is the fuel that will allow you to wake up and do the work of “world repair” day after day after day after day after… because that is what it is going to take to heal the world.
NEXT WEEK I WILL SEND PART 2.
Peace,
Ryan
