Margaret Lobenstine would call me a “Renaissance Soul”. Chris King would refer to my “portfolio career”.
I usually just use the expression that I wear many different hats – throughout each day and throughout my life.
I love this life and wouldn’t have it any other way and yet sometimes it wears me down just a little bit, usually when one of two possible things is occurring.
The first thing is that someone has asked me, “So what do you do?” and I’m having a hard time deciding which of many possible answers to give.
The second is that I’m striving to focus on a new project when all of my current projects still need my attention.
The latter is the situation I find myself in right now, as I’m working on the development of my new Sing Out Your Stress program).
Here’s what I need to remember about why I love it all:
1. Instant Variety. Even when I do choose to focus on one hat for a while, as I am now with Sing Out Your Stress, there are still many varied and interesting tasks that I get to carry out.
2. Life is Never Boring. Or even the same two days in a row. I love the variety of my days. Right out of school, I knew that 9-5 in the same place each day wasn’t for me. In my first year working as a music therapist, I had anywhere between 2 and 5 jobs/contracts at a time.
3. All of Me. With my current collection of hats, I’m thrilled to say that I am using each and every one of the gifts and skills that God gave me.
4. A Team Player. I get to delegate things that I’m not good at. I even get to delegate things I AM good at, but that I don’t enjoy. This clears space for my creativity to flow.
5. I Love to Learn. Every day I get to learn new things. In fact, Margaret Lobenstine says that as a Renaissance Soul, she suspects that I love the thrill of the learning curve so much that once I’ve mastered something I actually have the tendency to get bored and want to move on.
6. The Lighthouse Effect. This analogy is from the Perfect Customers website, and essentially means that if I stand my ground (like a lighthouse) and put my work out into the world, those who are drawn to my message will find me.
I receive precious emails from people all over the world who have discovered my work and found something meaningful for them. This is extremely gratifying and rewarding for me.
7. Free Reign. My hats are my creative playgrounds. If I decide there is a new skill or technology I want to try out or develop, I have many opportunities to experiment!
8. I’m Collecting Experiences. I’m trying and doing instead of scheming and dreaming. While I still experience the roadblock of procrastination at times, I STILL am accomplishing more than I ever would be if I only wore one hat.
9. Stretching for my Faith Muscles. There may be a lot of unknowns as a self-employed entrepreneur, but I know that as a 9-5-‘er I could just as easily face uncertainty. This way I’m invited every day to practice having faith that all will work out for me. All I need to do is trust and focus on what I can do next to be of service to the world around me.
10. Singing, Writing, Helping. How are my many hats fueling my creativity? Here’s a literal answer:
Sing Out Your Stress is giving me opportunities to play with new technologies, sing & play guitar and write inspiring lesson material.
Everyday Artist newsletter continues to give me a forum to put together my ideas about creativity and self-care.
Ten Ways to Thrive as a Creative Artist is another way to share those ideas, in book form, and marketing the book requires different creative approaches.
You Talk It, I’ll Write It allows me to help coaches and other small business owners to share their life-changing ideas with their target markets, while I get to use my writing and editing skills.
Top 10 Article Generator was a really fun project where I worked with a “techie coach” to use my writing experience to create an interactive article writing tool.
Linda Dessau, MTA, my music therapy private practice, is a place where I can connect with special people, creating a space for them to grow and flourish as we come together in music and song.