ren•ais•sance soul (rěn'ĭ-säns' sōl) - someone with many varied interests and passions
Since I decided to use this term in the heading of the blog, I figured I'd define it. I've always been frustrated with my "interest ADD" - my inability to focus on one thing long enough to become very good at it. This can be very irritating when so much emphasis is put on being the best. My dad came to me with the phrase "Life is a decathalon," explaining that you win a decathalon not by being really good at one event but by being pretty good at all of them.
Then my mom stumbled across the book The Renaissance Soul: Life design for people with too many passions to pick just one by Margaret Lobenstine. It was reassuring not only to have a better label for myself, but also to understand that there are other people out there struggling with the same things I am.
She postulates that people are on a bell curve of interests from Mozart (one lifelong interest) to Ben Franklin (many varied interests). Renaissance souls love new challenges and often rotate around many different interests. The book has helped me start to figure out how to make it all work - combining my passion for music with my love of writing and my fascination with structures and engineering. I don't know the answer yet and I imagine there will be a lot of deliberation about it over the next couple years.
I am learning to embrace my Renaissance soul. I love that I have eight musical instruments in my room right now, along with two sketchbooks, a folder full of story ideas, engineering textbooks, a pie pan, an almost-finished knitted baby blanket, and a soccer ball, among other things. I get a thrill from defying labels and being hard to put in a box.
On the other hand, our society is designed more for the Mozarts of the world. I'm trying to figure out if I should pursue engineering (which interests me, pays well, and I understand) or music education (which I have a strong passion for, doesn't pay great, and is uncharted territory). There's no straightforward answer for me. I'd like to figure out a way I can do both in some capacity. Maybe I'll switch careers at some point. Maybe I'll volunteer with bands in my free time. But it's difficult and a little scary to just leap into one not knowing where or how the other one will tie in. The big question I'll face in the next two years is what to do for grad school. In the meantime, I'll keep studying engineering and finding opportunities to help teach music. We'll see where this grand road that is life takes me.
Some days I like engineering, other days it punishes me brutally. Likewise, my muse is a flighty little thing that comes and goes, leaving me swinging from never writing or drawing to obsessing over a story or picture. Music is my main unwavering passion, but I never can decide what instrument I want to be playing. When an interest isn't currently in the spotlight, it's really hard to make myself do it, which can make homework difficult from time to time. But when one does take center stage, it captures my attention, even though it tends to be a handful of them at any given time, leaving me running in several opposite directions.
I guess in the end I need to hold on to the simple idea that life is what happens while you're out making other plans and worry a little less about the future. Hopefully this makes some sense of my rotating interests for those of you closer to Mozart's side, or maybe it resonates with any of you who may also be Renaissance souls.
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