On Being More Than One Thing

I was always criticized for doing “too” many things. For being interested in different activities or ideas, trying them, and then abandoning them. Asking too many questions. As if curiosity were a flaw. As if changing your mind were a moral failing.

We are never just one thing, or one identity. We give ourselves labels to explain to the world how we make our living, but those labels end up defining us and boxing us in. My worst job was one where the role was dictated by a collective agreement, with strict limits on what one could do and not do. Designers were allowed to sketch. Managers like me were not, even when a drawing was the clearest way to communicate. That rigidity drained me. It broke me. A box so tight it squeezed the life out of me.

This curiosity, the very thing people criticized, is the reason I chose architecture school after high school. According to the syllabus, I didn’t have to choose. The course included a liberal arts education, design, maths and sciences. I didn’t have to drop any of my high school curriculum. It was the first time I saw a path where being interested in many things wasn’t a liability. It was allowed. It was welcomed. It was, in fact, the point.

To me, the world has always held a treasure trove of things, and who was I, to at least not look into the ones that appealed to me. Some things stuck. Some things fell away. Some things taught me exactly what I needed to know and then released me. That isn’t inconsistency. It’s discovery.

Discovery has always been my way of moving through the world. Touching what calls to me. Learning something from it. Letting it go if it wasn’t meant to stay.

I’ve never believed in reinvention as becoming someone new. I believe in discovering the parts of ourselves that haven’t yet had their turn, the parts that don’t fit neatly into a job title or a box, the parts that come alive when we’re allowed to explore without permission.

If anything, the only real mistake is forcing ourselves to be smaller than we are. To be one thing when we are, in fact, many. To stay inside a role that was never designed for our full range.

That is why I am offering a chance for that exploration, for just a day. In a natural setting where there is room and time to settle into yourself and feel your way through, and perhaps discover parts of yourself that have been long buried. Or awaken something you didn’t know existed.

A one day retreat in Utopia is calling to those who want a reset, some self discovery, and a chance to learn to relax. If this feels like the right thing for you at this time, you can sign up for the retreat information on the blog. Spaces are intentionally limited, so the experience stays intimate.

Your Day in Utopia Begins Here