Juggling the fire in our bellies

In 1974, a young man named Dana Smith traded a full scholarship at a prestigious private university to travel the country walking tightropes, acting the clown and training circus dogs with a small vaudevillian circus.

Smith will tell you that he never once looked back. “I didn’t drop out of anything,” he says. “What I did was step into my life.”

After his stint with the circus, Smith went on to create his own show. Thirty-two years later, he is one of the most well-known street performers in the country. He makes his living by gathering an audience, making people smile, and then passing a hat.

For so many of us, our occupations are more like preoccupations that distract us from the work that we truly yearn to be doing. We may not believe we have the freedom to make a change because the trappings of the life we have designed encumber us. We may be working so hard to pay the mortgage that we have little time or energy to put toward finding a more meaningful career.

Some of us have no clue what would be more meaningful. Going in search of and finding the Holy Grail seems more possible than uncovering our one true purpose.

And then there are those of us who know exactly what our dream job looks like but fear keeps us from pursuing our passions. Just uttering our dreams aloud can be terrifying. Our fears are confirmed when our friends ask, “How on earth will you make a living doing that?”

For all these reasons and more, we remain stuck doing work that numbs our brains and oppresses our spirits.

When the dreams won’t go away

But what do you do when the dreams just won’t go away? This is not to suggest that we all run off and join the circus. But perhaps we can all learn something from the Dana Smiths of the world, something about being willing to risk everything to protect and pursue the one thing that really matters – the opportunity to use our unique gifts and talents to make a difference in the world.

So, where do we begin? How do we find and follow our passions? The path to meaningful work is often akin to tearing up the entire house looking for your car keys and then discovering that they were right in your hip pocket all along. We may spend a lot of time and money taking courses, getting counseled, un-learning things our parents or society told us were true, reading books and blogs, quieting our egos or simply wracking our brains trying to discover what we want to be when we grow up.

These can be worthwhile activities, but it is important to realize that you already have the answer. It is within you, not outside of you. Passion tends to whisper. And so we begin by listening carefully to our own inner voice and by believing what we hear.

The next step is to take action. Following one’s passion is not so much an elegant leap as a clumsy tumble in the direction of those dreams. You need to be willing to look and feel awkward as you move forward.

There is no guarantee that if you follow your dreams and work hard that the money will come. That is the stuff of glossy magazines in which people turn their passion for pajamas or sheet metal into million-dollar businesses. You will doubt yourself.

“Over time you learn to live with risk and uncertainty,” Smith adds. “You welcome it even, because working your way through fear and doubt offers yet another opportunity to polish and refine your work.”

Following your passion does not guarantee that you will live happily ever after, but it does ensure that you won’t look back with regret for never trying this one thing. It is important to take action every single day regardless of how terrified you feel. Whoever said, “There can be no transformation without trembling,” was very wise.

And finally, working and living in alignment with our passions involves surrendering to the process. You must jump in all the way and go with the flow. Why?

The “woo-woo” among us will say that when we take a leap of faith the universe rises up to catch us. More pragmatic thinkers believe that taking significant personal or financial risk is what gives us the mettle and fortitude to overcome the obstacles we will face along the way. In any case, when we fully surrender there is no turning back.

A few weeks ago, Dana Smith performed at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. The sky was gray, the air cold and damp. But as if right on cue, a group of strangers circled up to be entertained. With his 60th birthday just a few months away, Smith juggled fire while standing on a board teetering on a gigantic ball. The crowd was mesmerized. The sound of laughter echoed across the square. In that moment, fear and uncertainty were nowhere to be found. Time stood still.

And everything was all right.

Carrie Pinsky also writes the Career Enthusiast blog at www.ncbr.com.

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