I remember my kind, insightful housemaster at boarding school telling me I wouldn’t have trouble finding something I wanted to do, the challenge, rather, would be choosing which of my many interests to follow or figuring out how to pursue them all! He gave me another sage piece of advice – to use one pastime as a rest from another. Yes, he knew I was one of those multi-passionate people who would find it difficult to fit everything in. Who can relate?

Even when I did focus on singing, I railed against the expectation that I would pigeonhole myself into a certain vocal category when I enjoyed broad and varied repertoire and operatic roles, and when broad repertoire suited my voice. his presented a real challenge to those who needed to know exactly which little box to place me in. I remember auditioning for English National Opera as a young singer and the auditioner telling me to come back when I knew what my category was. I didn’t want a limiting category!

And now, the theme has arisen again. Yes, I’m a singer, teacher, speaker, trauma therapists and elite performance coach. Yes, I’m a trainer and mentor in TRTP™. And yes, I’m now also a children’s book author/illustrator/song writer and artist… Why not?! And why? Because I enjoy it all and because I can!

Futurist, Craig Rispin, touched on this in our podcast conversation a couple of years ago. Being a successful futurist requires lateral thinking, imagination, broad awareness. One of Craig’s mentors encouraged him to, every time he walked into a news agency, pick up a magazine on something he knew nothing about and inform himself.

In the past, I was concerned that by engaging in so many passions, I’d not be taken seriously in any of them. Now, I’m a champion of the un-specialist, the Leonardo Da Vincis of the world! Why? Because experience, knowledge and creativity in one area enriches and informs all other areas of our lives. Passion feeds passion. Joy experienced in one area uplifts, informs and energises another area. It’s a ‘virtuous cycle’. (I just found that term! I had to look it up. Isn’t it interesting that we all know the term ‘vicious cyclebut we’re not acquainted with ‘virtuous cycle’? I wasn’t, anyway.)

So, here’s an invitation to celebrate the 'unspecialist' and take the specialist off the pedestal (unless we’re getting brain surgery!). I’m interested to hear your musings on this.

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