“I helped her find her calling!”

Four years ago, when my nine-year-old proclaimed she was going to be a doctor like her Masi, my sister, I was thrilled, until I took her to the hospital for her next shot. It took forty minutes and four adults to pin her down for it! It struck me hard… this girl is not made to be a doctor! The girl is smart, above-average, ahead of her peers according to teachers, resourceful, wise, mature and street-smart. I decided to help her delve deep inside herself and answer to me, what makes her soul come alive? As a mother, I knew I could love her, nurture her, but cannot tell her what to do with her life!

I gently started prodding her. What makes you supremely happy? What can you do for twenty hours a day and only get physically tired? Sometimes she avoided answering me, sometimes distracted me, but she did not answer. So I began telling her, “Can you be like Masi in every way… strong, powerful, achiever, popular, successful, a multitasker… without needing to be a doctor, you know?” That statement struck home. 

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