Is Conviction a Blessing or a Curse?

Bigblackcat97 over on AgentQuery Connect brought up the question of whether having conviction is a blessing or a curse. (We’re not talking religious conviction, rather, general ‘know what I want to do with my life’ conviction.)

That got me thinking about life–again.

I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I never have. Truly. Never. Whenever in school they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I handed them an answer, because that’s what ‘good’ kids do. I never looked them straight in the eye and said, “I haven’t got the foggiest clue and sometimes that scares me. It makes me think I won’t survive childhood because I can’t see what I want to do in my future.”

Not knowing what you want to do is not horrible. I survived childhood. I also survived many, many career aptitude tests which failed to unfold my future before me like a yellow brick road. So, what do you do if you don’t have conviction? You listen to the universe and go find something that interests you. Go with it.  Sometimes you have to go out there and accumulate skills so you will be ready when life hands you your ‘job.’ Wait. Be patient. Have faith.

Yes, it can be hard. Sometimes, society helps us get too wrapped up in ‘who we are.’ One of the first things people ask when they meet you is, ‘what do you do?’ We define people by what they do. Or don’t do.

But what does it matter?

What matters is this: Are you having fun? Does it make you happy? Because unhappy people are like urine in a pool. They touch everyone with their acidity. Happy people are like sunshine. They touch everyone too, but with warmth.

Yes, conviction would be nice. It would be nice to have something to lean on. A purpose. A direction. But those with conviction can easily let it consume them. They have to make a conscious effort to lift their head and look around. Even those with conviction have to do something else every once in awhile to recharge, and find new direction within their conviction. Because if they lose their conviction, they could lose everything.

I would argue that conviction can be a curse or a blessing, depending upon the person. It all depends on how someone  handles their conviction. If you ‘know’ and you ‘believe’ and you add to that conviction with skill attainment, practice and determination, you’ll move forward–it just might not land you where you thought you were going. And sometimes that might feel like a curse, but can be a true blessing. With or without conviction, we have to stay open to what life has planned for us.