They way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart. – Buddha.
Did you ever see a TV series named ‘The Littlest Hobo?’
It was about a cute stray German Shepherd (a real hobo) whose mission was to move from situation to situation, person to person, helping those in need. Kind of like Lassie, but with a catchier theme tune:
“Until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on…”
Do you remember that?
Of course, everyone always tried to catch the dog, to adopt him and to make him stay. But no matter how appealing the new home or how loving the new master, the Littlest Hobo would always be seen heading off into the sunset at the end of the show.
If you’re naturally a Sparkler or minestrone soul with a rainbow career path and as many interests as stars in the sky, you might be feeling a kind of sparkly one-ness with our doggie hero.
See, the story goes like this…
You arrive on the scene in a new job or new career move, begin a creative pursuit, take a course and, because you’re multi passionate and multi-talented, you totally rock. Everyone agrees that this is really you, in your element at last.
People around you respond, and you respond, because you’re doing what you do best: helping, healing, making connections, learning, growing and expanding your world.
You quickly become something of an expert in this field.
You run with it (you’re good at picking up new things like that). Your loved ones hold their breath, cross their toes and hope that this might be the thing. The thing that settles you, that focuses and grounds you so, finally, you stay in one place long enough to make a go of it.
And then, just as you’re getting comfortable, you leave.
Switch focus. Chop and change.
Like Hobo, you patter off into the sunset, tail twitching and nose sniffing out the next challenge.
Why?
Is it something to do with finding your true calling? Is it something to do with being of service? Or do you just have a disablingly short attention span?
Chances are, it’s a bit of a mixture. But before you get anxious about this habit, just stop and reflect on its nature. If you, like many of us Sparklers, are a bit of a career hobo then instead of searching for a reason, try accepting it as a gift.
Even though you are multi passionate and have always been able to excel at whatever you turned to, you still have a calling or big reason for being here.
You have gifts that are uniquely yours, and the world needs them. You can serve other people in a way that is divine and so individual that nobody else can do what you do.
But it takes time to develop your gifts. It takes time to hone them. You need to listen and connect to who and what is calling you. And if that means refusing to settle, if it means upping and leaving a comfort zone again and again, then do that with love and acceptance.
It’s like you’re moving through the colours of your rainbow.
To get from red to ultraviolet: to you performing your most impactful, resonant work – you need to stay in action. Take baby steps. Keep moving and learning. If you follow your gut and your heart, you won’t be wrong. And it’s not about searching for the ‘you’ that’s yet to be born out there in the big world.
Your best ‘you’ is already there within you. You just have to reveal it.
As Steve Jobs famously said:
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.
Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
If you have faith in the process of finding, and if you take heart that the very act of doing, of taking action, of becoming is in itself a necessary and worthwhile journey, then you can’t possibly think that your career path, however spangly or scattered, is anything less than right for you.
It’s not about getting ready to become yourself.
You are yourself.
Life and work experiences will help you become more comfortable in your skin, so that one day, you might just stop, and look back and be thankful for what they have revealed to you about yourself.
Then, by all means settle. But settle in your heart. Settle into gravity and love. And get excited about who you’re going to be able to help with your rainbow set of life and work skills.
Moving forward:
1) Do you identify with having a rainbow career path?
2) Can you see a pattern or theme to your different interests or jobs?
3) How do you think you’ll know when you’re ready to settle into your heart and to let your gifts shine?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!! Thanks for sharing.
Jo Bradshaw is a brand designer, dot-joiner, copywriter and illustrator who also loves eco building, cooking and gardening.
Find out more at www.minestronesoul.com or follow Jo on twitter: @minestronesoul.
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** Want MORE BLISS and less stress in your life? Inner Sparkle: The 21 Day eCourse is made for you. Click here to get inspired. Happy. Sparkly. **
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love this! I’m multipassionate too. Had never heard of that tv show, but I do love canines. I guess my theme or pattern would be creativity. But that’s pretty broad. As long as I’m creating, I’m happy. 🙂
Hey Janet…you should check out the Hobo online, he was pretty cute (and I don’t like dogs)! Do you think as you progress with your career, you get closer to specifics with creativity? I find that as multipassionates, we often want to do everything, not leave anything out, but ironically, that sometimes leads to being less effective at the beginning. Do you have a favourite kind of person you like creating for?
This resonated so loudly I have goose bumps and tears in my eyes. You just described me, and my career path, with almost 100% accuracy. My pattern reflects customer service.
Oh Jessie, that means that you’ve seen yourself in this mirror…I hope you feel that you are not alone here. Have faith in the process of finding, and have fun working out who you love being of service to (it’s OK not to want to help EVERYONE). Whatever non-sparklers say about ‘just settling down’ -they say it because they’re scared, usually. And also, they care about you. But often they don’t understand how it feels to be on that rainbow path. There are many, many people like you and I, (and Tia has a marvellous community full of ’em here!) welcome.
What a great way to look at it! I had seen it as a negative, always jumping from job to job, hobby to hobby but your right why settle when it makes me happy to learn new things or experience different places.
Multipassionate sounds so much nicer than what my hubby describes as “flaky” when he says “So how long will this last?”
Great post, ps. I now have the theme tune stuck in my head!!
Mrs Brown
I could so totally relate to this !!! As the year draws to an end, I confess I was reflecting on this very career pattern I seem to be on and having doubts ..loved ones tell me I get bored easily once I have learnt the craft- I was seriously starting to believe them when they said I need to focus! But after reading this I can end this year knowing its all right ..its going to be all right:-) Thank you so much
Hey Neeta: sometimes just being witnessed and accepted by others like us is all we need. It IS going to be all right 🙂
I sort of relate. For me I feel that my path is quite straight and linear but our current social organisation doesn’t accommodate it – so it looks like I’m all over the shop; but I don’t feel like I am.
Evan – great that you have that internal barometer, huh? What’s on the inside is the most important, right!
Hi Everyone – All these comments speak to me. I have definitely moved around a lot during my working years, finding it hard to settle into one precise career path. However I have identified threads – communication, creativity and helping others seem to loom large and now although I no longer work in an ‘official’ capacity I am finally settling into a pattern of writing and creating that is bringing me joy and satisfaction – and at the same time is reaching out to others too.
One thing I want to note though is that the same inability to settle to one career path has also been present in my romantic relationships – and this has caused problems over the years. Recently I read in a Marrianne Williamson book that if we keep changing partners all the time we run the risk of jumping from ‘pink to pink’ and never experiencing the full rainbow. Now ‘settled’ in a good marriage I am hoping that having a bit of staying power may help me experience the beauty of the rainbow at last.