Her vocation in life is to be a nun.  This woman thinks more about God in her life so much that I would not be surprised if she becomes a saint.  She answers many questions that young people think about in their adult lives.  Before I decided what I wanted my vocation to be in life, let me define vocation.

In the Catholic life that I know of, a vocation is what a person bases upon to go through the easy and hard times in his/her life.  The vocation becomes the purpose in my life.  My vocation keeps me focused.  Sometimes, I have difficulty honoring my purpose in life but I always find myself returning to honor it.  If I have to make an easy or difficult decision, I revolve it around my vocation as the Earth circles around the sun.  My vocation is like the sun.  The sun gives growth to the trees, the creatures, the sea, the clouds, etc.  My vocation is also a promise I keep to God.

I decided my vocation to be my family.  I have a story.  In general, I have to make decisions about money daily.  Yesterday, my husband and I got into a spat on how to spend the stimulus check we received.  I was so mad with him and I wanted to be right about how we should spend the money.  I was angry.  So, I decided that when we go out for a walk, I am not going to hold his hand and I AM going to walk 10 feet ahead of him.  I thought: I am fine, I can do without him.  After all, I have a good job AND I want to show him that I was upset.  Then, my heart and God came into play.  He said, “Did you not promise me that your vocation is your family?”  He continued, “Are you treating your husband like family?”  Ninety percent of the time, I walked ahead of my husband.  After I heard God, ten percent of the time, my heart opened up with compassion for my husband.  My heart felt I was humiliating him and it reminded me my vocation was my family.  So, ten percent of the time, I stopped and waited for him, to walk beside him.  We did not say a word to each other.  But the action spoke louder than words.  (I want to remember that ten percent of the time spent walking beside him.)  Life has its ups and downs and that ten percent of the time, I was in communion with my promise to God.  I made a decision not to dwell in my anger and keep my vocation/promise to God.

So, what is your vocation in life as a person with mental illness, depression, and anxiety?  Many people with my illness are angry people, many are not, too.  Whichever you are, you need to choose a good and healthy vocation to be your sun.  The woman I mentioned in my opening paragraph is Sister Natalia.  Her vocation is being a nun.  From her vocation, she made many decisions in her life that helps other people in the community.  Listen to her at this link https://youtu.be/wNV4IeLfHac. Then, you discern your vocation.

This podcast is 1 hr 37 minutes long.  Don’t worry if you don’t remember everything.  What counts is that you learned something (a prelude to another blog).  You can also listen to the podcast twice as I will.