Margaret Lobenstine would call me a “Renaissance soul.” Chris King would refer to my “portfolio career”.
Usually I just use the expression that I wear a lot of different hats, throughout each day and throughout my life.
I love this life and I wouldn’t have it any other way, and yet it does wear me down a bit sometimes, usually when one of two possible things is happening.
The first thing is that someone has asked me: “So what do you do?” and I’m having a hard time deciding which of the many possible answers to give.
The second is that I strive to focus on a new project when all my current projects still need my attention.
The latter is the situation I find myself in right now, while I am working on the development of my new Sing Out Your Stress program).
This is what I need to remember about why I love everything:
one. Instant variety. Even when I choose to focus on a hat for a while, as I am now with Sing Out Your Stress, there are still many varied and interesting tasks that I can accomplish.
two. Life is never boring. Or even the same two days in a row. I love the variety of my days. As soon as I got out of school, I knew that 9 to 5 in the same place every day was not for me. In my first year working as a music therapist, I had between 2 and 5 jobs / contracts at a time.
3. All of Me. With my current collection of hats, I am excited to say that I am using each and every gift and ability that God gave me.
4. A team player. I can delegate things I’m not good at. I can even delegate things that I AM good at, but don’t enjoy. This clears the space for my creativity to flow.
5. I love to learn. Every day I can 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 master something, I actually have a tendency to get bored and want to move on.
6. The beacon effect. This analogy is from the Perfect Customers website, and it essentially means that if I stand firm (like a beacon) and expose my work to the world, those who are drawn to my message will find me.
I receive valuable emails from people all over the world who have discovered my work and found something meaningful to them. This is very rewarding and rewarding for me.
7. Free reign. My hats are my creative playgrounds. If I decide that there is a new skill or technology that I want to try or develop, I have many opportunities to experiment!
8. I am collecting experiences. I try and do it instead of conspiring and dreaming. While I still experience the procrastination hurdle at times, I am STILL accomplishing more than I could accomplish if I just wore a hat.
9. Stretch the muscles of my faith. There may be many unknowns as a freelance entrepreneur, but I know that as a 9-5 worker you could face uncertainty just as easily. In this way I am invited every day to practice having faith that everything 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. Sing, write, help. How are my many hats fueling my creativity? Here is a literal answer:
Sing Out Your Stress gives me the opportunity to play with new technologies, sing and play the guitar, and write inspiring teaching materials.
The Everyday Artist newsletter continues to provide a forum for me to gather my ideas on 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 Say It, I’ll Write It allows me to help coaches and other small business owners share their life-changing ideas with their target markets, while I use my writing and editing skills.
Top 10 Article Generator was a really fun project where I worked with a “technical coach” to use my writing experience to create an interactive article writing tool.
Linda Dessau, MTA, my private music therapy practice, is a place where I can connect with special people, creating a space for them to grow and prosper as we come together in music and song.