I have decided not to label myself anymore.

In the words of Walt Whitman, “I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes“.
How could I use one word/sentence to define the many me’s within Me?

Recently I watched a TED Talk that was enlightening: Emilie Wapnick talking about ‘multipotentialites‘.

What is a multipotentialite?

Emilie writes on her website Puttylike.com:

A multipotentialite is 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.

So, if there is one definition I could use for myself, it is this one: I am a Multipotentialite.

I have been worrying for my whole life (as most of us do), feeling the urge to understand what my “one true calling” was. Once I thought I had found it, something within me changed and I wasn’t that sure about my calling anymore.
Time after time, this situation repeated itself.

“Why can’t I find my soul purpose? Why can’t I find my path?”
It felt like something was wrong with me.

I had started realising that maybe I could do more than just one thing in my life, when I met an incredibly inspiring Kundalini Yoga teacher while I was living in Cork: she not only was (and is) a yoga teacher but she also was (and is) an artist and an art teacher. When she told me about her story, something clicked within me. But it wasn’t enough.

Later on I experienced doing different jobs at one, reading two, three, four books at one… but it still didn’t feel right.

Up until a few weeks ago, when I watched Emilie’s TED Talk.

Now I know.
Now I know that, if I get bored at doing something that I thought I loved, it is completely normal, it is a multipotentialite’s body’s reaction that means that it is time to move on to something new.
I know that having tons of interests is a pro and not a con.
I know that it is fine not to be interested in the tiniest details of a topic.
I know that by learning fast and on so many different topics I (have) become a great creative problem solver and helper.
I know that my soul purpose, my path doesn’t have to be one particular career but that it can be bringing my many gifts to the world, in my unique way.
And I know that I am not alone in this.

If any of you out there has ever felt wrong or has a similar story to mine, please leave a comment below and share how you feel about your multipotentiality.
If, instead, you are a specialist, please share what it feels like to have a “one true calling” (if you have already found yours).

With love,
Eleonora, your #earthandsoulwanderer