Is it okay to admit to the internet that I have no idea what I'm doing?
Is it okay to admit to LINKEDIN that I have no idea what I'm doing?
I spent a lot of time on Pinterest this evening. I love collecting, and since I was a teenager I've collected ripped out magazine images of beautiful spaces, pouring over design magazines in Barnes and Noble and occasionally dropping more than $5 on a beautifully bound, beautifully curated magazine. I heard Pinterest referred to recently as a place of hoarding. That stung - because the collections of beautiful items, landscapes, interiors, and food on Pinterest have served as a pleasure point and a weekly or even daily renewal space for me for years. Beauty revives me when I'm stuck in a task-oriented week or when I'm bored and lonely. Just as the magazine pages served as inspiration, taped into wire bound notebooks, these images fill me with something indescribable - awe, comfort, creation.
I have no idea what I'm doing, and I wonder if I'm doing it wrong.
I didn't set out on my life or career to arrive someplace, and watching others climb career ladders and become business owners has caused me pause recently - maybe I've been going about this all wrong? Maybe I've been stupid. Maybe I've been naive?
But, I've collected a lot of experiences. I've collected a lot of beauty. And somewhere somehow along the line, a theme began to emerge. This is what I love about Pinterest - a theme begins to emerge as you travel the internet and seek out things you find beautiful. A collection begins to emerge.
I have no idea what I'm doing, but maybe there's a theme emerging?
Accidentally, I have lived my life and career in the same way. Seeking out rich experiences, developing relationships with beautiful people, stopping to collect, notice, appreciate, and respond along the way. I have only known what draws me in, what next thing sparks my interest. In doing so, I've collected really interesting knowledge sets and developed adaptable skillsets. By being in a lot of professional spaces, I have a wide network of relationships and am able to make connections between disparate themes and build a web between many people - THIS is my version of a fulfilling life.
What if life is more a CURATION and a COLLECTION that, looking back, emerges as a theme, as a living being, as a really interesting life?