I’m rather a Renaissance woman. I’ve done a lot of different jobs over my lifetime. I’ll name a few here.
Retail cashier, fast food, waitress, (food and cocktail), imprinted trophies, answered phones, worked in communications at a fancy resort/hotel, switchboard operator, administrative assistant, executive assistant, file clerk, hotel front desk clerk, file storage organizer (data management), assistant manager and manager of coffee shop, researched buying my own coffee shop, writer of fiction novels and poetry, volunteer at a food pantry, volunteer at a church, on staff at a church administratively, assistant director of a swim/tennis facility (owned by the church I worked for), owner and partner in an independent publishing company, editor, proof-reader, mentor, teacher at a private school. And of course being a mother to three children. (Writing has been in my life forever.)
*Breathes deep and tries to remember if there are more.
In the last couple of years I’ve gotten heavily into painting and drawing, art journaling, etc.
Having done so many kinds of work, I’ve come across a lot of things I like or love doing and a lot of things I really do not.
I’m most definitely a creative person, and highly organized. Bringing order to chaos has always felt like a deep underlying theme for me. I like to do that on the small scale (organizing drawers and closets and files) and on a large scale, (trying to bring about peace in the world at large and the world around me.) I’m a peacemaker. I’m pretty good at sitting down between two warring parties and helping them settle their differences. It all flows along the same lines.
I love decorating homes/rooms. I have a great sense of rhythm, I love music with a passion, and I have a great sense of color.
It’s kind of helpful writing these things out.
I’ve had people say to me that they aren’t good at anything, or they aren’t good at anything creative. I never believe them. I think anyone can be good at most anything if they really try and sometimes people simply have not yet figured out what they’re good at. Some go to their graves never figuring it out. I daresay a lot of people did a hundred years ago.
These days more people have more of an ability to have hobbies or have the time to do creative things or things that simply make them happy, or at least some do. The Industrial Age brought about machinery and equipment that made human’s daily chores so much easier. And now, computers and technology are daily changing the way we work, live and play. There are still farmers and people who do hard physical labor from dawn to dusk, but nine-to-five has become a bit more the norm.
I encourage you, if you haven’t yet, to spend some time figuring out what you dearly love doing and what you despise, and finding at least one creative thing to do, either through work or as a hobby. Creativity really does work from an entirely different part of the brain, and we don’t want to go through life using the bare minimum of our brains. (Studies suggest all of mankind uses a tiny fraction of our brain’s capabilities, even the smartest among us.) I will continue to stretch the areas of my brain that I use, and make more wrinkles up there, stimulate more little grey cells.
I have to believe it is part of the reason we’re here, to keep learning and growing. Our hearts ought to be continually stretched as well.
To begin to discover your deepest talents and the things you might love putting your hands to, make a list similar to the one I did above. Write out all the jobs you have had, whether it’s one or many. Take note of what things you enjoy and which things simply add stress. If you’ve only ever had one job, make a list of pros and cons, what you love or loved about it and what you did not enjoy. This can be a helpful exercise in discovering a direction.
I think at times like these (when we are faced with our own mortality) it can be a time of awakening in many areas. Some will decide they aren’t happy with their lives and begin to make changes. We do, after all, only have One Life to LIve as the soap opera said.
If you need any help discovering things about yourself, as I said, I’m highly organized and may be able to help. Leave your email address with me and I’ll get in contact.
A Renaissance Woman (or man) will always have a broader view of life, we’ve lived in a lot of different environments and experienced a lot of perspectives. We’ve been through some shit and learned a lot from it. We tend to be more open-minded and ready for growth and change.
I’ve used the term “old-soul” before in discussions with some people I’ve met. Some seem to have an older, wiser soul than their mere years can account for.
Be open to change. The hard kind, like this virus and the lockdown will always suck, but being open to positive change is a very, very good thing. And at times in history, a time of crisis will precede a time of positive growth and change.
Coming at you from my deep space in isolation–
Have a mind-stretching day my friends.