I used to spend a lot of time searching for ‘the thing.’
The thing was the one job or passion that I thought would ultimately fulfil me and make me happy forever.
Surely I would find ‘the thing’ if I just looked hard enough?
So I searched, and being a fact finder type (on the Kolbe test) that meant a lot of research. I read a lot of books to find out what colour my parachute was and books by Barbara Sher and Po Bronson.
Then I took courses trying to weed out my real passion – photography, floristry, art history, creative writing and interior design. They were all fun and challenging in a way that created a state of flow, but I still didn’t think or feel I had found ‘the thing.’
I circled round and round trying harder and harder to find ‘the thing.’ I thought maybe if I meditated some more or did more yoga it would come to me, presented on a velvet pillow.
‘The thing’ was my lost ring and I was Gollum needing to find my ‘precious.’
I’d read that ‘the thing,’ the ring, was the obvious thing. The thing that I took for granted so much that I didn’t even notice it. I wasn’t looking there so I couldn’t see it. (if you have not watched this test about selective attention try it, it’s fun)
So the thing was, I had been reading coaching books since I was thirteen and loved anything related to coaching and self-development with a passion. It was my invisible gorilla. I was looking everywhere else for ‘the thing’ when it was so obvious, if only I would let myself notice it.
What is your invisible gorilla? What is the thing you love to do so much that you have taken for granted?
The other thing I realised was that there wasn’t just one thing. I realised I was not a one thing kind of person and all I had been doing was fighting this fact. I discovered from Marie Forleo that there was a name for this and I was a multi-passionate person.
Yes, permission granted. You can like to do more than one thing with your life!
I still sometimes struggle with this and wish I was one of those people who wanted to be a train driver and then grew up to drive trains but most of the time I am happy to stay on my own track.
If you would like some help with noticing and naming your calling, email me at deborah@deborahchalk.com and we can set up an hour long session to help you take the first steps to work that inspires you and to find out more about what it would mean to work together.