Discovering who I am

ABOUT ME

"I'm still deciding what I want to be when I grow up"

All my life I have wanted to do something creative but have never stuck with just one thing, always wanting to learn the next skill.

I would frustrate my Mother, in not sticking with one creative hobby or, not wanting to take the easy option such as studying Music for GCSEs because I had already done grade 8 flute and grade 4 piano. I wanted to learn something new! For university I ended up doing a compromise of what I wanted to study and what my parent's thought would be more sensible but came out disillusioned as to what my future career would be.

I never knew what my calling was (and still don't) and I got frustrated that as my friends grew up they became specialists in their respective fields, earned due respect and good wages, whilst I was a 'jack of all trades, master of none', jumping from one job to the next (not always of my choosing), feeling annoyed that society didn't seem to value breadth of knowledge and experience across many different fields. I was frustrated and slightly depressed that value (both monetary and respect) were given to those who were narrower in their knowledge and experience, until someone pointed me to a TED talk by Emilie Wapnick "Why Some of us Don't Have One True Calling".

She spoke a little bit of hope into my life that I was ok, I am not flaky, I am a master - just in a different form. She describes me (and those who identify with these traits) as a Multipotentialite. A person who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life and has no “one true calling” the way specialists do. I recommend having a look at her website for more information.

Through re-looking at my skills I have seen that I have many innate skills I hadn't appreciated and many that transfer across different job roles. I still struggle with the fact that the world doesn't really recognise or respect multipotentialtism but wants everyone to be a narrowed down specialist. BUT I now believe it is as much to do with me respecting my own skills and being content in who I am and where I am; using and presenting my skills to the right people at the right times, that will make them see and respect multipotentialtism and those who poses this amazing ability. Feel free to see my work experience on my LinkedIn page, having worked for the NHS, a few PR/Graphic Design agencies, a couple of start ups and even a Litigation Funding company! I'm still learning, still questioning and still deciding what I want to be when I grow up but I now don't feel constrained to have to be or do only one thing! I can explore, I can try, I can make mistakes, I can change and so can you.