"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog,* conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." Robert Heinlein
*[let me just say -Butcher a hog - ick]
I read that in my early adulthood, and loved it. It spoke directly to my heart.
But in spite of the KNOWING that I was a generalist, for years I've been trying to fit my round self into a square idea of who I should be. It hasn't worked.
Everyone, and I do mean everyone-including me, has told me to specialize.
Grrrrr .
Specializing, I was told, is the only way to get a job (the square hole) and thus an income.
In other words, sell myself out to fit into an employer's idea of what I should be. This may be possible for others to do without feeling like a mummy wrapped in the gauze of "shoulds'" and "aught to's".
But every time I tried, my heart would end up feeling squeezed, my blood pressure would rise, and I'd end up with an ulcer. And to top it off I'd feel I was being choked. Surely there must be a better way. I've always been a Jack-of-All-Trades and been proud to be so.
And so when a friend recommended that I start a blog, because well - it's time - she suggested that I specialize. The Easy specialty: parenting. Before she could start the next sentence, I could feel my heart squeezing. The image in my mind was a mule puling back on it's reins as hard as she was pulling forward. (And I'm the mule.) However, because I believe that her idea of creating a blog is a good one, it is my job to figure out what that means for ME.
And so after much thought, many deletions, cutting and pasting here we are: This blog will be a travelogue of how I came to be me, how I look at the world, and accepting that this will work and work well if as I talk to myself I can be faithful to my journey.
And hopefully as you read my words,you will know that your happiness is only there when You, my reader, are FAITHFUL TO YOUR JOURNEY.
Gayle
