It's Right Under Your Nose
Thoughts on finding your calling + a new video
“Make it a regular habit to consider your roles: parent, neighbor, citizen, leader, and the natural duties will arise from them.”
— Epictetus
Ever notice how simple it is to skip out on your responsibilities? In so many corners of life, there’s no audit, no performance review. Who notices if you don’t walk the dog or skip your share of a group project with high achievers on the team? Nobody, maybe. That’s sort of the problem — the invoice for neglect always comes due.
It’s one of life’s harsher lessons: when you shirk your duties, someone else has to pick them up. That dish you left in the sink? Now it’s your partner’s dish. That local park you enjoy? It only stays pristine if someone is out there picking up trash and trimming the hedges.
“A garden will not fence and weed itself,” wrote C.S. Lewis. Left alone, order collapses into disorder. Civilization — like any garden — requires stewardship.
In The Lion King, Mufasa shows his young son, Simba, the Circle of Life — a fragile ecosystem that allows lions to hunt while still honoring the lives they take. His lesson is that with the privilege of kingship comes responsibility. Lots of it.
NEW VIDEO TODAY ON YOUTUBE, HOPE YOU ENJOY!
But Simba just wants to skip ahead to the perks of power. “I just can’t wait to be king,” he sings, not realizing that true kingship is a burden, not a banquet. He learns the hard way when he and Nala stray into the elephant graveyard and nearly become hyena chow. His royal blood doesn’t protect him. Reality doesn’t care who you are. It demands something of everyone.
Even power doesn’t spare you from obligation. It magnifies it.
Public goods, from highways to playgrounds, only exist because someone chooses to protect and maintain them. When we forget that, things fall apart. Economists call it the “Tragedy of the Commons,” when individuals exploit shared resources without investing in their upkeep.
Think overfished rivers or free buses in a big city.
Simba had no idea how much work it took to keep the Pride Lands from falling into ruin. Most of us don’t either. That’s why, when left unchecked, ambition curdles into arrogance and freedom dissolves into decay.
Mufasa makes it plain: “Being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble.” A good leader doesn’t flirt with darkness just to prove they can. They enter the shadowlands only when someone they love is trapped there.
We romanticize adventure, especially when we’re young. But real joy is rarely found in reckless freedom. As C.S. Lewis put it, “Happiness lies in the path of duty.” That’s why parents, when sleepless and exhausted, still say it’s worth it. There is joy in carrying burdens that matter.
Power Is a Role, Not a Reward
The world is filled with unacknowledged rulers: parents, mentors, managers, team leads, neighbors. Whether or not anyone gives you a crown, people look to you for stability and leadership.
The real question isn’t “Do I want to be in charge?” but “Who depends on me without saying it?”
If you’ve ever seen fear in your child’s eyes, or weariness in your partner’s voice, then you already know: responsibility finds you. The question is whether you’ll meet it or run.
There’s a great moment in Game of Thrones when Lord Eddard Stark explains to his son why he personally carries out executions: “The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.” It’s about accountability and leadership without ego…power without detachment.
We often think leadership is about making calls, not feeling the consequences, but real leadership involves the weight of choice and the humility to feel it. That’s where Resolve comes in (see the new video above).
If you ever ache to know, “What is my calling?” yet you’ve ignored the dishes in the sink or the weeds in your own yard. Epictetus offers a remedy…just examine your roles: parent, neighbor, citizen, friend…and your callings will become clearer.
Start small. Tend your garden, literal or metaphorical. You’ll be surprised how quickly it goes from overgrown to beautiful, and you might even see a pathway form to the next thing that needs setting straight.