You Don't Need a Calling - by Damon Garcia (Paperback)

About the Book

Damon Garcia turns our standard ways of thinking about purpose upside down. Purpose isn't something we find; it's something that finds us when we learn to be present to the world. For those disillusioned by the idea of "God's plan" for their life, or exhausted by the achievement treadmill, this book will reframe the way you view your purpose.

Book Synopsis

Stop searching for purpose and start being present.

"Pursue your calling." "Become the best version of yourself." "Make your life count." These messages inundate us at work, in our churches, in self-help books, and in our own psyches. But so many of us are worn out from constantly pursuing more and always feeling like we fall short. In a capitalist system, purpose is determined by profitability, manipulating us into believing our entire lives should be driven by growth and production. Society has narrowed our perspective of work, gifts, and success, turning our unique energies into commodities. But we don't have to accept this limiting view. We can reclaim our true purpose by resisting systems of exploitation, slowing our constant forward motion, and tuning in to what's happening in the here and now.

In You Don't Need a Calling, former minister Damon Garcia turns our standard ways of thinking about purpose upside down. Purpose isn't something we find--it's something that finds us when we learn to be present to the world in front of us. Drawing on philosophy, theology, pop culture, and anti-capitalist perspectives, Garcia charts a new course away from, on the one hand, the faith perspective that everything in our lives is part of God's plan and, on the other, the cynical belief that our lives have no purpose at all.

For anyone disillusioned by the idea of "God's plan" for their life or exhausted by the achievement treadmill, this book will dislodge your narrow thinking and reframe the way you view your life, desires, gifts, work, success, and relationship to the world. This book isn't about how to become the person you wish you were. It's about how to free yourself to be present to who you already are.

Review Quotes

"Finally, someone has written the book that names what so many of us have felt but couldn't articulate: the exhaustion of trying to discover our 'one true calling' in a system designed to extract maximum value from our insecurity. This is both a pastoral and a prophetic response to the burnout epidemic plaguing our communities. By connecting individual anxiety to systemic exploitation, Garcia helps readers understand that their struggles aren't personal failures but structural realities. More importantly, he offers a theologically grounded path toward collective liberation that will resonate deeply with anyone exhausted by the pressure to optimize their spiritual life. This is the book I'll be recommending to pastors, students, and anyone grappling with questions of purpose in late capitalism. Essential reading." --Tripp Fuller, host of the Homebrewed Christianity podcast and visiting professor of theology at Luther Seminary

"Perhaps what I most love about Damon Garcia's work is his ability to ignite my imagination. Here again--a spark. This book is, in itself, the fruit of its premise: Release the clamoring anxiety that demands ascension toward a 'call, ' and sink into the grace that is already a wellspring of 'enough.' You Don't Need a Calling is an invitation to resurrection--one of new worlds from old machinations that leave so many crushed beneath its gears--and more compassionate possibility in the light of a gem turned toward beauty." --Levi Macallister, "Levi The Poet," author and spoken word artist

"Damon Garcia is a prophet howling from the ignored outer edges of empire: Wake up! Wake up! Through his incisive lens and piercing storytelling, we are invited to dig beneath the status quo and imagine a present reality where everyone thrives." --Shannan Martin, author of Counterweights and The Ministry of Ordinary Places

"One of the core questions everyone who has ever lived asks themselves is, 'Why am I here?' Damon Garcia explores the question of purpose in a unique and needed way by freeing it from the constraints of capitalism and the church, into a more liberating framework so that each and every one of us can better experience why we are here." --Mason Mennenga, podcaster, YouTuber, and public theologian

"I grew up worried I might 'waste my life, ' taught that everything I did needed to "count for eternity." For anyone who knows that pressure in their bones, Garcia offers a gift. This is a book I want every graduating high school and college student to read--an antidote to the performance-based gospel of productivity culture, and a summons to a radical, countercultural witness worthy of Jesus. Garcia gently calls us back to our humanity and to what life is actually for: love, connection, and being fully present to what matters most." --Brian Recker, author of Hell Bent: How the Fear of Hell Holds Christians Back from a Spirituality of Love

"At a time when many of us feel we are stuck with impossible expectations, help is found when we realize that the powers that be need us more than we need them and flip the script. Let this book and the wisdom of one who has gone there guide you." --Joerg Rieger, Distinguished Professor of Theology, Vanderbilt University