Expanding Interests

There are a lot of things I don't know.  Far more than I do know.  But there are a few things I am sure of.  One of them is that as we age, our interests expand, rather than contract.  I'm not sure we think about life this way very often.  In fact, if you are like me, you might have thought that this phenomena is like that of a baby "soaking up knowledge like a sponge".  We, therefore, have been sort of conditioned to believe that youth is a time to dabble in lots of interests and then pick one (around time for college) and then stick with it to build a solid career. Well, that's how I did it, anyway.  How boring!  And the truth is that I stuck with the model until it nearly sucked all the life out of me.  I even stuck with it long after I realized that although I still liked what I was doing with my life, I was no longer impassioned to do it.  In fact, there were other things that were pulling on me to turn left, or right.  And those forces were growing stronger with each day that I ignored them, until finally, the swimming upstream became so difficult that I was literally stopped.  I had stopped caring, stopped growing (except my dress size) and stopped learning.  And then, finally, I got off my one track path.  And that's when I realized that I am not passionate about one thing.  I gave myself permission to be interested in as many things as I wanted.

Be a Farmer:  Some of my favorite tomatoes!

 

Be a Merchant: Helping Melissa with her Garage Sale......or be a Candy Maker: Here, trying to make caramels for the first time.

And a miracle happened.  Okay, it was a small miracle compared to walking on water or something like that.  But it was my miracle.  I discovered that lots of interests isn't what I used to think: that like rushing water with no banks, too many interests would just cause my energy to flow out, disperse and eventually just dry up.  No, it didn't happen that way.  Instead, my many interests were like river banks.  Building tributaries.  And the water rushes through them, endlessly and builds energy.  And interests beget interests and more banks and more water.  My life is fuller now than ever before.  More fun, more laughter, more things...way more things to do and see and experience than can fit in the finite time I have left.
Some people worry that they will run out of money before the end of their life.  I worry that I will run out of life before I have done all that I have to do.
Damn my old belief system that kept me a prisoner to the "do one thing and do it well" school of thought.  I wish I'd jumped off the train years ago.  But thank God that I didn't wait a minute longer than I did. 
Don't wait.  Be a doctor, lawyer, tinker, tailor, soldier, writer, painter, gardener, chef, farmer....not which ever one you want to be....but all that you want to be.  Expand your interests and your life can only expand with it.