I’m finally making peace with being a polymath

Ever felt like a jack of all trades but master of none?

Do you find yourself staring at a blank notebook page with the words: ‘what is my niche?’ written accusingly across the top?

Have you thought about chucking it all in and retraining as a potter?

A carpenter?

A writer, even?

Just one thing you can do really well.

Pick it up at 9 and put it down at 5.

Knowing that there’s nothing more you can achieve until tomorrow.

No more multi-tasking.

No more distractions.

No more other people…

Just you

your hands

your head

and the power of patience.

I do.

It’s a pleasant fantasy.

But the reality is

I would get bored.

I would get lonely.

I would think to myself:

Does the world really need another clay bowl?

My clay bowl?

Because I know myself well enough now to know I need variety

Dexterity

Volume

Range

Collaboration with other people.

To use myself and be used by others in all the ways I can be.

To believe that what I spend my days doing is in some way a means to and end.

Not that pottery, furniture and literature don’t offer meaning.

Nor that some things aren’t worth doing purely for the act themselves.

Just not for me.

Know what I mean?