How I Found My Unique Path As A Multi-passionate

3 personal tips to help you gain clarity and direction

“What should I call myself? I have all these different interests and they all don’t seem to make sense, what do I do?! Why can’t I just focus on ONE thing like the others?”

If you’ve ever had these thoughts, or are in the midst of figuring out your life and career path, know that you are not alone! I remember that sense of relief when I first discovered the term multi-passionate.

As a society, we’ve conformed to putting things in boxes, labels to make sense of things. But fundamentally, we are all different and unique, we are evolving and changing — we are living organisms that respond to stimuli around us, to things that spark our curiosity. And hey, isn’t that beautiful?

As someone in my twenties, I’ve spent the past few years questioning, exploring, and been through a lot of frustration to come out on the other side of owning my unique strengths and path. I decided that I no longer want to fit in any box. I wanted to redefine who I am and create a new identity that fully encompasses me.

Here are some of my best advice to help anyone who’s struggling with multiple interests, passions, and especially if you’re like me — always filled with ideas but struggling to find direction at times.

1. Accept and OWN your story

In my writing, I often talk about mindfulness and practicing an objective, non-judgemental approach. The same goes for figuring out your life and passions — the more you judge yourself, what you’re doing, where you’re at, the more you get stuck.

“Never compete with others, you are not running the same race.” — Gift Gugu Mona

The moment you release any need to justify yourself or live up to the expectations of others, you allow things to flow and align in the best way possible. I’m a big believer in following your curiosities and trusting your heart. That doesn’t mean we’re being irresponsible or jumping at any shiny thing that comes at us, but we take time to reflect and have trust that we are exactly where we need to be, as it is all part of the journey of becoming.

2. Take action and gain clarity

Of course, trusting and believing are not enough, you need to take action! What I discovered along this journey is that I waste so much time thinking about things that I want to do and try without actually just doing it. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever had was hearing Marie Forleo’s infamous teaching “clarity comes from engagement”.

“Clarity comes from engagement, not thought. Take action now, you’ll find your truth. Thinking about it is great, action is priceless.“— Marie Forleo

And in my experience, as with many others, you’ll find that once you’ve been involved with an activity or profession for a certain time, you’ll have the answers if this is right for you. It doesn’t mean you stop when one thing’s not right for you, but you find ways to incorporate what works for you, what you enjoy, and continue seeking and exploring where passion and joy lie for you.

Let me just give you an example. My first internship was a teaching internship and I always felt like I had a teacher in me. But I really didn’t enjoy the system, traditional approach as that was not what I believe education should be about. But what I then gained clarity about was that I wanted to advocate for creative education, self-inquiry, and exploration.

Another part of my journey was being involved with lots of community projects, and I always had this desire to be involved in social impact work and wanted to communicate these important messages. Hence it led me to a non-profit marketing and communications role.

Funnily enough, I was so afraid of writing back then as I never saw myself as a writer, but soon enough I fell in love with it, as I wrote up stories to capture the impact of charity’s services and interviewed individuals who touched me deeply with their stories. I held on to this part of the role that I really enjoyed and it eventually led me to Medium and sharing my own stories.

I encourage you to stay curious and keep reflecting on your own journey and each experience whether it was a volunteering, a job, or a hobby project, discover the clues and lessons that can guide you to the next step.

3. Discover the common threads and know your values

Some of you may know from my other posts that I’m big on journaling, and it’s also one of the best ways to capture your ideas and then organise them in a way to help you move forward!

As much as it’s important to acknowledge yourself as a multi-dimensional and multi-passionate individual, what’s more important is what you choose to do with it and how you make sense of it.

As you begin to reflect on each key experience you had (remember to not only focus on career experiences) and tap into moments where you felt joy, you will begin to discover common threads of your passions and key strengths. This is such an empowering way to make sense of who we are and expand beyond a job title, or role that we do.

For example, you can see that I’ve discovered my common threads as teaching, creative expression and communications. I’ve blended my communications and marketing skills to create content that educates others about well-being, personal development, and at the same time, it leans into my passion for teaching.

Coming from a creative and music background, writing and creating content is a great way for creative expression and I’m currently exploring including audio in my content and writing music for my own meditation tapes.

The other important part of this approach is knowing your values or knowing your why. It becomes the compass that can guide you to the right opportunities when you know what truly matters to you. You can have multiple skill sets and strengths but what underpins how you use them is your values — it will guide you in making difficult decisions, and will also help you to find more fulfilment along the way.

“Make sure every day you do what matters most. When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense.” — Gary Keller

On a last note, I want to say congratulations on beginning this evolving journey of self-discovery! And whereever you are at right now in your path, know that it’s temporary, just like one of the bus stops. There are many stops along the way, and this bus of life will pick up different people, experiences at each stop, but when you find those moments of joy and passion — hold on to it, capture it, and follow it with all your heart.

If you’ve enjoyed this piece and would like to learn more about self-discovery and personal development, you can receive my exclusive tips for readers here.

Here are also some of my other relevant work to complement this piece:

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