Professional insight: Your calling will always outweigh your dream.

Can a dream sit inside of your calling? Sure can. 

But a dream is often just a snapshot: a promotion, a company launch, an award. Your calling, by contrast, is the broader mission that ties those achievements together and gives them their meaning.

In corporate culture and self-help circles, you’re told to chase your dreams. But I encourage you to take a different approach: Pursue your calling. Find the through-line thread that connects your skills, values, and goals. Then use that to build a message that’s consistent, trustworthy, and impactful.

Finding your calling doesn’t happen overnight. It can be unclear and messy — especially if you’re fixated on what the market will pay for instead of what’s truly meaningful. But in this week’s Mind Uncensored, I share part of my own process as a reminder that, once your calling begins to burn, it doesn’t just ask for your attention—it demands your commitment.

Forget the Dream. I’m Chasing Calling

Radovan Zierik from Pixabay

Last, week, I announced that I would be stepping away from my websites until fall. The goal is to give myself the space I need to complete two of my own book projects. As part of this temporary shift, I’ll likely move toward biweekly editions of Mind Uncensored.

Those who know me and follow my work know that getting my own books into the world has always been a dream of mine. As a kid, I carried notebooks and pencils the way other kids might have carried Pokémon cards or a Polly Pocket. So, in a big way, focusing on the books aligns with what I’ve always wanted to do.

But the difference between a dream and a calling can be massive.

What’s your “one thing”?

For most of my life as a writer, my projects served two purposes — entertain myself as I worked on my skills, or generate some income. If I could learn or educate others in the process, awesome — I was more than happy to let my natural inclination to tell others what to do find some usefulness.

But then a thought hit me.

If I could write to bring attention to only one thing, what would I say?

Think about that one for a moment. What is so big and valuable to you that communicating it would become your mission?

Searching for a thread

It’s OK if you can’t answer that question right now. But it helped me understand that, for as many words as I had penned, I still hadn’t delivered a consistent message of my own. Not really. There was no thread of deeper purpose that would offer the kind of congruency that improves trust and influence.

It felt better as I started my Christian podcast (Faithful on the Clock) and offered social media posts related to the episodes. It seemed more authentic and helpful than crafting yet another how-to slideshow on attracting clients or integrating new software secrets. I intend to stick with the show.

But as I grappled with a ton of personal stuff, the message was clearer. The podcast was a definite step in the right direction. But the overall purpose and reason for me to write wasn’t just to inspire Kingdom businesses and careers.

It was to help people who’d given up on joy — especially because of their own traumas — find it again.

I suppose I felt twinges of that calling years before now — it’s occasionally escaped. But mostly, I flat out ignored it, even denied it, simply because I understood deep in my subconscious that achieving anything in it would require me to be completely transparent about everything I’ve been through.

If I were to pick up my calling, I would have to finally use my voice.

The one I’d hated.

The one I’d hidden.

The idea was terrifying…

…and also impossible to let go of.

Some online conversations with an old friend from high school helped me to articulate the core of my new message for the first time. But as soon as I did, surety blossomed.

Now, I have at least half a dozen book ideas* percolating inside the twists of my mind. They all fall under the original concept of finding joy, but each tackles a slightly different hurdle. And for the first time, writing is bigger than skills or money or even fun. It’s a pathway to delivering something priceless to people — a sense of their own self-value.

That’s not a dream, the way doing a simple book signing or making the NYT bestseller list is. That’s a calling.

A different, better destination

As I chase the calling I’ve been given, I can see that my old dreams don’t have to be abandoned. But they’re no longer the destination. Like many people discovering deeper purpose through age, faith, or loss, I’ve watched my “why” mature into something rooted in service, not just success. I’m choosing the narrower road I hope will lead not to applause or accolades, but to healing for others. I write not just to build a career, but to build a bridge — from sorrow to joy, silence to voice, loneliness to connection, survival to purpose.

I don’t know exactly what the next few months will hold, but I know this: I’m not turning back. If you’ve ever questioned your worth, lost your voice, or wondered if joy is still meant for you, I hope these upcoming books meet you right where you are. And if my story can make the road clearer for you, then every quiet hour spent writing will be worth it.

The original version of this post appeared in Wanda Thibodeaux’s Mind Uncensored newsletter May 9, 2025. Like this content? Subscribe to Mind Uncensored!

Subscribe on LinkedIn