multi+potential+ites

i never had just one answer to the question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?"  and now i know this by design.  but the realization came with no small amount of anxiety in a culture that says you must focus on and specialize in only one thing.

looking back, my life has always had a circuitous path.  unlike people who knew what they wanted to be, picked that as a major and subsequent job, my vocational trail more resembles an accident with an ink truck.  in high school i wanted to be an interior designer.  in college i majored in writing & literature with a french minor only to become a children's pastor.  trying to fit in by focusing on a career path, i went to seminary only to become...an art teacher (which is kind of along the lines of interior designer, but messier.)

i have been everything from college professor and camp director to symphony violist and poet.  i am a trained lifeguard, know how to bring in a grape harvest, have taken fencing lessons, and tried my hand at welding.  i raise chickens, kayak, bike to work, am teaching myself french cooking techniques, and go on city architectural walks for fun. for my bucket list i have accomplished well over 88 of my 200+ goals including yodeling in the swiss alps, smashing plates at a greek restaurant, hot air ballooning, flying a plane, riding a motorcycle, learning hebrew, cycling the velodrome, going to france, completing the portland marathon, and climbing alaskan glaciers.  i have yet to surf, successfully roast chestnuts (this is harder than it looks and involves power tools), watch fireflies dance, grow the perfect tomato hybrid, fly fish, and keep an apiary. while i decide what's next, i'm walking the oregon coast trail.

so you see i still have trouble answering the question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" it all makes for an interesting life, but only just now do i feel free to say i think i am a multipotentialite.  up until this point, i was a bit ashamed of my incessant curiosity and afraid i would be labeled "unfocused".  not only for myself, but as an educator (who could become a farmer or spiritual director at any moment), it was refreshing to come across the following TED talk on what the speaker calls "multipotentialites" in our society.  and that we need people who are able to synthesize ideas, learn quickly, and bridge interdisciplinary thought; becoming the creative problem-solvers our world so deeply needs.  if one of my students is supposed to specialize in a calling, then by all means i want to help them on that journey.  if they are a multipotentialite who may do many roles within their lifetime, then i want to set an example of inspiring them to follow their thread of curiosity wherever it may lead.

for more you can listen to emilie wapnick's talk at:  more than one calling
and now, if you'll excuse me, i have sailing lessons to look into...

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