I definitely do not remember my first birth; that is, when I came into this world. However, what I can tell you is what my parents told me. It was the late 60s, in the spring time, in Montreal. I was making my arrival one month too early and my father was racing down the highway to get my mother to the hospital. He first had to drop off my sister at the babysitter, who — to make matters worse — lived at the opposite end of the city.

Now, here’s where my first birth story gets a little more stressful. After crisscrossing the city, my father safely reaches the hospital; he drops off my mother at the reception desk. The contractions are coming more quickly and more painfully. The nurse quickly whisks my mom away and my father runs back to park the car, so it doesn’t get towed away from the drop-off zone.

Minutes later, he returns to the reception desk to find out which room my mother is in and the nurse says to him, “Are you sure you have the right hospital?”  Well, my father is now in a panic because he just went to park the car and the hospital has lost his wife and his unborn child.

Could you imagine the state of mind he must have been in?

Well, what he didn’t know was that after he had dropped off my mother there had been a shift change. So, this new nurse hadn’t been there to see when my mother arrived just a few minutes before.

Hearing the heated discussion my father was having with the nurse on duty, a doctor holding something in a bundle of blankets comes over and asked my father, “Would you like to have a son?”

Now, my father, still stressed and flustered with the new nurse, says the doctor, “Yes but where’s my wife”? That’s when the doctor introduces me to my father. I was the “something” in the bundle of blankets. The doctor exclaimed, “Here’s your son! Your wife is doing fine.”

Now for my second birth, which I do remember. For those who don’t know my story, I struggled academically in school due to an undiagnosed learning disability. But, with hard work and determination, I was able to beat the odds. I graduated from college with honours diploma in International Business. Then, right out of school, I landed my first full-time job with a British commercial insurance company.

One day, my employer asked me to train a new broker on how to underwrite international cargo insurance, because he was struggling to understand the concepts. Unlike auto or life insurance, there are many unusual external factors and variables you have to consider when safeguarding goods that are destined for international travel. After sitting down with him for a few hours, he had a better grasp of the process. I could see that he had that eureka moment of understanding. I could not believe that …  for a student who struggled in school … I had become the teacher, helping someone to overcome his learning challenges. That was my second birth! I understood my true purpose and calling in life (i.e. educating, training, encouraging) and it was great!

As the years passed and my career progressed, training and coaching were always a part of what I brought to my employers. And so it remains today in my work as a Career Blacksmith.

In the words of Mark Twain…

In the comment box, share with me whether you have found your calling, and if so, what is it.

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Sincerely,

Colin McClean, Your Career Blacksmith

“Keep moving forward and looking upwards!”

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