Avocation

{{Short description|Calling, which may or may not provide employment}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}

File:Photograph of First Lady Bess Truman at the White House with a delegation of Girl Scouts, who are presenting her with... - NARA - 200404.jpg with Girl Scouts and their volunteer leaders]]

An avocation is an activity that someone engages in as a hobby outside their main occupation. There are many examples of people whose professions were the ways that they made their livings, but for whom their activities outside their workplaces were their true passions in life.{{Cite web |last=Saunders |first=Travis |title=Avocation vs. Vocation |url=http://dragonintuitive.com/avocation-vs-vocation/ |access-date=10 February 2011 |website=Dragon Intuitive|date=12 October 2009 }}{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Robert |date=10 February 2010 |title=Your avocation may save your life |url=http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Your-avocation-may-save-your-life-373723.php |access-date=10 February 2011 |website=The News-Times |publisher=Hearst Corporation}} Occasionally, as with Lord Baden-Powell and others, people who pursue an avocation are more remembered by history for their avocation than for their professional career.

Many times, a person's regular vocation may lead to an avocation. Many forms of humanitarian campaigning, such as work for organizations like Amnesty International and Greenpeace, may be done by people involved in the law or human rights issues as part of their work.{{Cite news |last=Boyd |first=Brian |date=20 October 2006 |title=A secret history of the old Ball game |work=Irish Times |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/revolver-1.1018425 |access-date=4 July 2007}}

Many people involved with youth work pursue this as an avocation.{{Cite web |last=Giammona |first=Craig |title=Avocation in Wood |url=http://www.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinmagazine/archives/features/002157.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628190555/http://www.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinmagazine/archives/features/002157.shtml |archive-date=Jun 28, 2011 |access-date=10 February 2011 |website=Bowdoin}}

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