I used to wonder what was wrong with me. Or at least I used to get frustrated with certain of my tendencies. Tendencies like being a great starter but a lousy finisher. Like letting my FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) lure me away from getting things done and meeting my own deadlines. Like my intense interest in so many kinds of projects, jobs, ideas, etc. Like my inability to decide between all of the wonderful options. Like my uncanny ability to gather and remember connections with people from around the world, but not knowing whether/how could be a positive thing. Like my longing to take this class and that course just because I wanted to learn about it, but had no idea how to use it for any financial benefit.
I was intrigued by my idiosyncrasies, but was sometimes embarrassed by them as well. I guess I often felt that I was weird. Abnormal. A misfit and maybe even a loser - because of my perceived failure to follow through on supposedly important things.
I finally began to realize that those idiosyncrasies are a special part of my uniqueness and I am mostly happy about them now. I am intrigued by them and by wondering where they will lead.
As I have gradually begun to accept and celebrate the benefits of the complex being that is me, one of the things that has helped me is the idea that I am a multipotentialite. Yep, there is a name for this! For people like me. How fun!!! I bumped into Puttylike a couple years ago and quickly identified with the things discussed on this site. I discovered others who are learning to celebrate their own multipotentialite selves. Learning how others make the most of their multipotentiality has been beneficial to my own journey.
Over at Puttylike, Emilie Wapnick describes a multipotentialite as "a person who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life."
Multipotentialites have no "one true calling" the way specialists do. Being a multipotentialite is our destiny. We have many paths and we pursue all of them, either sequentially or simultaneously (or both). Multipotentialites thrive on learning, exploring, and mastering new skills. We are excellent at bringing disparate ideas together in creative ways. This makes us incredible innovators and problem solvers. When it comes to new interests that emerge, our insatiable curiosity leads us to absorb everything we can get our hands on. As a result, we pick up new skills fast and tend to be a wealth of information.
One area particularly affected by my multipotentiality is my writing. I recently enrolled in a writing course as a major step toward becoming a serious writer. One of the first lessons was about finding your voice - which seemed to mean that I would have to drastically narrow my focus. A couple years earlier when I first started my blog, I hadn't a clue what I really wanted to write about. Somehow I had the foresight at that time to pick a name that has ended up being an umbrella for the diverse topics I have since found myself writing about - from my travel wanderings to my theological wonderings and everything in between. As I worked my way through that writing course, I chose to be patient with myself and to wait and see what would emerge - rather than forcing myself to arbitrarily narrow my focus. I am now rather happy with that decision. Even though I can easily admit that my wandering writing may lose me readership, I can also celebrate the broad diversity that I have ended up writing about. Most importantly I have been writing for me rather than trying to please a faceless audience. Presumably I will continue to learn more about writing for an audience and about building a readership, but writing for me has been a healthy start to my blogging career.
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So yes, I am a multipotentialite and am enjoying the discovery of what all that might mean in my life. I can now celebrate this diversity that is within me. And I am realizing that many of my friends are also multipotentialites as well.
What about you? Might this describe you as well?
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