What Calling Keeps Calling You?

I recently was interviewed by a lovely young woman, mom of a 2-year-old and 4-year-old as a possibility to appear on her podcast. She talks about how Moms can be both mothers and career people—experience the best of both worlds with thoughtful planning and immense dedication. We were trying to figure out if I would be a good fit for her audience. I am always interested in talking about reducing screen time and how that helps parents reduce their stress while improving child’s behaviors, self-regulation, and overall sense of self. There is a correlation between high screen time and increased stress for families. So, as we talked, my passion came out—as it did in these last two blogs. I feel such an urgency to help parents with tech issues because when they get it right—so many more things fall into place—like reduced family stress, for instance. As we chatted, the conversation shifted and I noticed her pulling back on the questions and muttering to herself. Finally, she admitted, “I am now in a fear state. I have to mull over all this information and come to terms with it myself before I can host you competently on the podcast. I’ll get back to you.”  

Wow. I didn’t mean to induce fear by giving accurate information. But I should know better. I have been inadvertently doing that for 40 years now. I should not have been surprised. I don’t want to perpetuate parents as victims of technology where they have to be afraid of all the issues and become paralyzed in the process. Deer in headlight reactions can’t make the necessary decisions to grow kids optimally with screens. Yet, that happens—not always, thankfully. But when it does, it shakes my confidence. And makes me question: “What am I doing? Why am I doing it?” And when I am back to my Why, I reluctantly but predictably return to my calling. I am committed to doing what I can to untangle the complex issues to parent well in a tech-obsessed word. Now with AI, it’s going to exponentially more difficult to articulate concerns and have them heard, received and acted upon. But no matter how hard it gets, I will continue. That’s the blessing and the curse of a calling…you can’t give up, even when you want to, you discover you don’t really want to. In a way, a calling owns you and when you own up to it, it’s often a heavy-handed task master. 

The book, Servant Leadership impacted me greatly. Written in 1977 by Robert Greenleaf, it is a now a classic in the business world. He stresses that the servant as leader or follower searches ceaselessly for a better way, expecting that a better world may emerge any day. This quote renews when confidence is shaken: “Leaders must have more of an armor of confidence in facing the unknown…This is partly anticipation and preparation, but it is also a very firm belief that in the stress of real life situations one can compose oneself in a way that permits the creative process to operate.” (p.28) 

And I have to share the rest of the story: When I sent her an email thanking her, I gave her a link to research that shows kids really want the real world more than the screen world. And then when she sent me another email thanking me for the article, she told me she wanted to dive into the research. So, I sent her a PDF of my book, letting her know this a synthesis of 60 years and could save her time! I also encourage her saying we need more leaders with this issue. She has so much potential to become one. 

So, how I see it is that our calling help us stay confident, often whispering creative ideas that may open cracks to the daylight of insight for others. I wasn’t consciously thinking of Greenleaf’s quote when I sent her that info, but writing this blog brought it to my attention—that maybe I did actually allow the creative process to operate. Never ceases to amaze me how our calling teaches us, too. We all serve something. In this time of so much discontent, uncertainty and overwhelm for many, our calling can help us do our best in the small part we are given on the short time we have on the planet. 

I leave you with the inspiring words of Michael Meade, mythologist and storyteller. He stated in an email correspondence of Sept. 5, 2025: “In times of crisis, we are called to undertake an expansion of identity and grow a greater sense of soul in order to avoid being overwhelmed by radical changes that disrupt both nature and culture. Importantly, the innate inheritance of each soul includes surprising capacities for creativity and renewal as well as instincts for survival.Each person born has specific genius qualities and each has a calling that can lead to psychological growth and finding a genuine life purpose. Typically, the issue is not a lack of calling, the problem is hearing the call and heeding it amidst all the distractions and uncertainties of modern life.A genuine life purpose is not an optional choice, but something set within our hearts waiting to be revealed. The struggles we encounter and the losses we suffer can open pathways to the center of the self where purpose waits to be found, where vitality can be renewed and where spirit whispers the nature of our calling in life.In critical times there can be an acceleration of calling that opens the pathways of genius and imagination that give life meaning and purpose, but that also can reveal our best ways of serving the world.”  

Copyright, Gloria DeGaetano, 2025. All rights reserved.