The Shining

Author Stephen King recently appeared on CBS’s Sunday Morning, and it wasn't long before the topic of purpose came up. King’s fascinating journey toward becoming a successful horror fiction writer affirms several of the concepts proposed in Catcher of the Light.

When interviewer Jane Pauley commented, “You were blessed with a mother who noticed you were special, and, at the age of 12 gave you a typewriter,” King responded, “My mother gave me room to be what I wanted to be. She didn’t laugh about the ambition to write stories.”

His mother gave him room to be what he wanted to be. Imagine what the world would have lost if she hadn’t. Imagine what he would have lost. He might have succeeded at something else, but he probably wouldn’t have exploded with deranged creativity, extraordinary productivity (almost 100 novels), and unwavering passion for his work (still writing at age 74).

A parent’s support, or lack thereof, has tremendous influence over which interests a child pursues or abandons. If your child expresses an interest in something, help her find out more. When you notice the hint of a special talent, give him every opportunity to explore it. At the very least, do not laugh at or otherwise discourage your child’s authentic self (even if it involves evil clowns or creepy twins).

While King’s mother was clearly his “light catcher,” his father left the family when Stephen was just two years old. King has no memories of his father, but there are some interesting purpose-related connections between them. First, King’s father was an aspiring writer. Talents, and even passions, can be hereditary, which is why a section called “The Light of Your Ancestors” is included in Follow Your Light. Learning about the vocations, talents, hobbies, and personality traits of relatives, current and past, could awaken something special inside your child.

Although he didn’t know his father, at some some point during his childhood King found a box of his father’s belongings in the attic. Inside the box was a horror novel with an illustration of a strange creature coming out of a crypt on the cover. King said at that moment he thought, ‘This is it! You know? Whatever it is, something chimes in you and you say I’ve found something that resonates with my soul.’ So King’s writing ability and his passion for the bizarre were gifts inherited from a father he never knew.

Pauley then commented that most people never find something that resonates with their soul. She said, “To be fortunate enough to find the thing that you love—your spark—and be good at it, and the world wants you to do as much of it as you possibly can, that is the trifecta, and that is so rare.”

King replied he didn’t think that was necessarily true. I don’t either. While it is true that most people, up to 98 percent of us, are not living a purposeful life, it’s not accurate that you have to be ‘fortunate enough to find it.’ The three components of purpose—passions, talents, needs in the world that strike a chord—are planted inside us before we are born. We just have to uncover them and find a way to combine them in a meaningful way. (One approach to doing this is explained in Chapter 3 of Follow Your Light.)

So it’s not a matter of finding your one purpose, but rather choosing to live a meaningful life by utilizing your natural inborn gifts to make a difference in the world. This is an important distinction for young adults who are confused because they haven’t found their calling. They don’t have to wait for the rare lightening bolt of purpose to hit them. They have the power to shape their own fulfilling futures.

Stephen King’s success story reinforces the importance of parents encouraging a child’s passions; the helpfulness of exploring the interests of relatives and ancestors when trying to help your child or teen hear those “chimes;” and the important difference between finding your purpose and creating a purposeful life based on self awareness.