From the time we start school, we are asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” For some, the answer to this nuanced question comes without hesitation, but for others, finding the answer seems to be a more difficult matter. At only 18, how do we decide what to spend the rest of our lives doing while considering our calling?

On the surface, the main factor in deciding what to dedicate the rest of your life to doing may simply be your interests or what you enjoy doing. However, each career comes with its own unique set of accompanying core values. Perhaps choosing a meaningful career is simply a matter of discovering a field that aligns with the things you value most in life—or is it?

For some, an accomponying value may look like having time to be involved in their families. For others, this may include a lucrative or stable job, or engaging in a career that serves others.

But, what happens when one’s career-related goals or values are not self-defined? The values that are expected of us, perhaps instilled in us or that simply surround us, can muddy the waters of this undertaking.

For some, obtaining career success is defined in the shadow of a family legacy or tradition, though tradition can be a personal value in itself, making for a very thin line to navigate between individuality and external influence.

In other cases, maintaining a career embodying personal values may not be sustainable or plausible. It is certainly worth acknowledging the various barriers that exist when it comes to the practicality of pursuing a life calling—whether due to financial stability, the unpredictability of work availability or the unpredictability of life itself.

For some, discovering a calling need not be through the lens of a career. A calling may simply be marked by the manner in which someone wants to live their life. Whether through travel, the way one engages in their relationships or gathering life experiences, some people’s values draw them to things that will enrich their lives beyond a job.

This is all to say that defining one’s values is laden with various factors, it has no formula, and its process follows no universal sequence.

It is more than okay for one’s “central values” not to be immediately clear, for how these are to be incorporated into one’s calling to be uncertain.

Furthermore, being aware of these values is not necessarily a perfect key to the much-awaited gate of discovering a fulfilling career—or even life.