Own Your Everyday

01The Myth of the Grand Calling

Society constantly bombards us with the idea that we must find one singular, monumental purpose to make our lives truly matter. But what if the relentless search for this grand calling is actually the very thing keeping us stuck in a state of perpetual anxiety? From the time we are young children, we are frequently asked what we want to be when we grow up. The expectations only intensify as we navigate through high school, enter college, and eventually step into the adult workforce. We are conditioned to believe that out there, somewhere in the universe, exists a perfectly tailored dream job or a ultimate destiny that we must uncover. When we cannot clearly identify what that one massive calling is, we often fall into a deep state of panic. Jordan Lee Dooley refers to this overwhelming anxiety as the "purpose void." It is that hollow, sinking feeling in your chest when you look at your life and wonder if you are somehow missing the mark, simply because your current reality does not look like the cinematic dream you envisioned. The danger of obsessing over a grand calling is that it frequently paralyzes us from taking any action at all. We become so terrified of making the wrong choice or stepping onto the wrong path that we choose to do absolutely nothing. We sit on the sidelines of our own lives, waiting for a divine sign or a sudden flash of profound clarity. Dooley shares her own deeply personal experiences of navigating this exact same paralysis during her college years. She vividly describes the intense pressure she felt to choose the perfect major, believing that this single decision would dictate the entire trajectory of her existence. Like many of us, she changed her mind multiple times, feeling a deep sense of shame with every pivot. She felt as though she was failing at the fundamental task of figuring her life out. Yet, looking back, she realizes that this intense pressure was entirely self-inflicted and largely based on a flawed premise. Purpose is not a singular destination that you finally arrive at after years of wandering; rather, purpose is a highly dynamic, constantly evolving way of traveling through life. To break free from the paralyzing myth of the grand calling, we must radically shift our perspective on what it means to be purposeful. Instead of asking massive, intimidating questions like, "What is my ultimate destiny?" we need to start asking smaller, more immediate questions like, "How can I serve the people right in front of me today?" Dooley’s own entrepreneurial journey began not with a grand master plan to build a massive lifestyle brand, but with a simple, quiet desire to create something meaningful in her college sorority house. She started hand-lettering quotes on coffee mugs and selling them through a small Etsy shop called Soul Scripts. At the time, she did not view this as her ultimate life purpose. It was merely a creative outlet, a small step taken in a direction that felt right at that particular moment. However, that small, seemingly insignificant step eventually laid the foundation for her future career as an author, speaker, and business owner. If she had stubbornly waited for a blazing billboard in the sky to tell her exactly what her grand calling was, she would have never started stamping those mugs. Embracing the season you are in is perhaps the most crucial step in overcoming the purpose void. Every single phase of life, whether it feels exciting or incredibly mundane, carries its own unique opportunities for growth and contribution. When we are overly fixated on the future, we completely blind ourselves to the beauty and potential of the present moment. Think about how much energy is wasted wishing away your current circumstances in favor of an idealized future. You might be working a job that pays the bills but does not necessarily light your soul on fire. The myth of the grand calling would tell you that you are wasting your life and failing to live up to your potential. However, owning your everyday means recognizing that this current job is teaching you discipline, providing for your family, and giving you an environment to practice kindness with your coworkers. Those things matter deeply. Your life is not on hold until you figure out your ultimate passion. Furthermore, we must separate our identity from our occupation. In modern culture, the first question we ask when we meet someone new is almost always, "What do you do?" This subtly reinforces the dangerous idea that our professional output is the sole measure of our value as human beings. Dooley challenges us to untangle our self-worth from our job titles. You can be deeply purposeful regardless of whether you are a corporate executive, a stay-at-home parent, a college student, or someone currently searching for employment. Your calling is not merely the tasks you perform to earn a paycheck; it is the unique energy, compassion, and character you bring to every single interaction. When you stop looking for a grand, cinematic calling and start focusing on being present and intentional in your daily interactions, the heavy burden of the purpose void begins to lift. You suddenly realize that you do not need to change the entire world to live a deeply meaningful life; you simply need to fully show up in your own small corner of it.