Embracing Being a Multi-potentialite

It is never just one thing

While this newsletter usually explores miniatures, making, creativity, and adjacent topics, I find it challenging to only focus on those areas. I’ve always had interests in various topics, art mediums, travel, spirituality, and discovering new ways to navigate this world.

In a world that loves specialists, it can feel lonely to have multiple passions. You feel like you can’t quite get your shit together and focus.

But why do we need to choose one thing?

I don’t think we do. This world is full of diversity and differences that should be celebrated. After all, isn’t variety the spice of life?

Back in 2014, I participated in supporting the development of a leadership cohort program at the Banff Centre. One of the activities we tested allowed me to see that embracing differences was part of my superpower. The activity went like this:

• Go outside and observe things.

• Write down everything you see and notice for about 15 minutes. Write a line for each observation.

• During the exercise, I wrote down:

  • The different green shades of the leaves on the trees

  • All the variety of shapes of the stones at my feet

  • The chorus of bird song in the trees.

  • The explosion of wildflowers colours in bloom, etc.

• After the observations, we were asked to write “I am” in front of each line

  • I am the different shades of green

  • I am a variety of shapes

  • I am the chorus songs

  • I am the wildflower colours

It became like a poem, and I realized that my observations and connection were all about the diversity I saw and the wide variety of nature’s essence. Then I realized that being a “Jill of all trades” made me good at my vocation and was part of my essential self.

Being seen

Years ago, I read the book “How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci” by Michael J. Gelb, and more recently, I discovered How to Be Everything: (A Guide for Those Who (Still) Don't Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up) by Emily Wapnick. Both books resonated with me, and I felt seen. Leonardo Da Vinci is probably the most famous multipotentialite. Imagine if we only knew him for the Mona Lisa, but not for his anatomy drawings or inventions (like the helicopter). He painted, invented, sculpted, and even created his own language.

Not that I aspire to become Da Vinci, but the spirit of curiosity, exploration, trying and failing are principles that can be applied to anyone’s creative practice…including mine. One of the downsides of multipotentialite living is that it is really easy to start things and never finish them.

This year, I am working on increasing my focus muscle to see things through and limit distractions. There will be setbacks, but similar to the Hero(ine)’s journey, those distractions will just take me off the creative path I want to walk. This doesn’t mean I won’t explore new ideas or continue with my varied interests. It just means I won’t use “new shiny things” as a procrastination or distraction mechanism to avoid doing the thing I want to achieve. I suppose this is part of the transition I spoke about in my last newsletter - releasing or allowing what no longer works to die so you can embrace your true self.

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Let me know if anything about being a multi-potentialite resonates with you. (More so, I don’t feel alone in my diverse interests and pursuits)