What's YOUR Talent?

I've started meditating regularly now after a brief hiatus and as I was sitting in my room ( created from my son's old room) and it dawned on me the real reason I have moved from one project to the next throughout my life, racking up a fine array of jobs, businesses, and other odd/interesting projects.

I was always told I couldn't stick with anything for any period of time.  I was always changing jobs.  Sticking with a job for a year and a half was a long time for me so when I made it to the 3 year mark with The Botanic Garden, everyone patted me on the back for sticking it out.

Well, it wasn't sticking it out actually.  I t was an array of different jobs and projects within one job position.  When I can create new projects on a regular basis, I can stick around forever!  And that is my talent.  Creating.

My husband is a poet.  My eldest son is a creative musical genius (sorry, I'm a proud mom) and my younger son is a film and music producer in the making.  Oh, and they both can write some pretty darn good poetry.

While I can say that I have now picked up the pen on a regular basis after catching the writers bug, it wasn't always that way.  I barely read as a kid (wait - I knew how to read....I just didn't). I listened to a lot of music and played in various bands and did some acting.  I certainly didn't write much of anything except lyrics to go with the music I wrote.  What I do is come up with some pretty large ideas (often) (no, wait - very often) and eventually manifest them.

That's what I do.  I create businesses, events, large endeavors like last year's art project with Dominican University's design and merchandising program for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  The fun is definitely in the creation.  And when it is created and no more can be done with the idea, it's time to move on to the next idea.  (They usually are stacked up, one after another!)  There is never a shortage of ideas.  And if I am in top form, rested, my brain can spit ideas out at top speed!

So that is why I have never lasted very long in one position.  And I am okay with that.  Do I get bored?  Well, yeah, probably.  When most people are revelling in their successes, my brain is already onto the next project.  The fun was in the creation.  I'm happy to leave the revelling to others.

But like I've been saying, I've learned to sit with an idea after it is birthed, let it grow on it's own with some fertilization now and then.  As a gardener, we know that there is that time period after the seed has been planted in the soil.  Nothing is happening on the surface; nothing is required except watering once the seed is planted.  That germination process that happens in the dark is the amazing thing about seeds.  They have everything they need to sprout within their little seed bodies.  And some will sprout while others won't.  That is something we, as gardeners, have no control of.

So once an idea is "planted", it needs to be left to its own devices to sprout on its own.  The great thing, though, about ideas, versus seeds, is that you have no idea what will sprout. It will always resemble the original idea in some form, but as it grows, it has its own life.  So I've learned to let these ideas form with little input from me.  And it's amazing what happens.  It's that liminal stage of betwixt and between one stage and the next.  The excitement is in not knowing exactly what will happen.

I took a stand up comedy class two years ago, with the idea of telling funny stories as opposed to jokes.  I was told this was not real stand up.  But my idea was planted.  And this year, four of us created a kind of prose/poetry theatrical performance piece.  And it is growing still.

So, when someone asks what my talents are, I will forgo the typical musician, singer, horticulturist labels of the past and proudly exclaim, "I create!"  And then move on to the next project........