My first love was dancing. Any kind of dancing, really – but when I was little, it was mainly ballet. I was pretty good at it – my ballet teacher used to pull my leg up on the barre to show other, older girls how flexible I was – and I performed in a couple of ballet school shows.
I carried on with the lessons until I was around 10 or 11, at which point I realised I didn’t have the desire or commitment to continue. From then on, I danced when everyone else did – in clubs, discos, at weddings.
I was sensible enough to know that I wasn’t cut out for high-level ballet. Even though I was good at it, and I loved it, it wasn’t a passion. I got just as much out of free movement as the strict patterns of ballet.
At least my parents allowed me to drop it when I did. Plenty of other kids, when they show the slightest natural talent, get pushed into, say, taking up an instrument when they don’t really want to.
In her entertaining and insightful piece for Psychology Today, Susan Biall, a doctor, happiness expert and coach, tells the story of when she was encouraged to take up the French horn, and it made her utterly miserable.
Then, when she managed to quit, she was labelled “a gifted student in the Sciences” and got sucked into the system, which didn’t spit her out until the age of 28 and she became a doctor. By that time she was suicidally depressed.
The moral of the story? You can only go so far on talent alone. Being good at something isn’t enough. When it comes to truly fulfilling your potential, the only thing that will give you joy is doing what you love.
I discovered almost by accident that I love writing. Particularly the sort of writing that is easily accessible and understandable and that inspires and entertains. And I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to earn money from journalism for most of my adult life.
I still love dancing, too, but what really makes my heart sing is helping other people wake up to their potential, and that’s why I’m a human potential coach.
Did you get funnelled into a career simply because it was something you were good at? What would you be doing if you could earn money from your passion?
As Susan Biall says, when even a tiny part of your life is spent doing something you love, you’d be amazed how bearable it makes everything else in your life.
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