"...and what do you do?"

The question most creatives dread

Have you ever stood tongue-tied at a party, meet-up, or networking event while a stranger inquired, “…and what do you do?” If you are a Renaissance woman or man, someone with many passions and no desire to pick just one thing, you’ve probably longed for an escape hatch.

We live in a culture that encourages, expects, and rewards individuals who can readily answer that question with a single, tidy label: “I’m a teacher,” or “I’m a real estate agent,” or “I’m an engineer.” But not all of us have, nor want, linear paths.

As a Renaissance woman, I don’t have just one passion, one purpose, or one source of creative bliss; I have many. On any given day, I may choose dressmaking, applying vintage lace to a special occasion dress for a christening. Tomorrow I might be editing a chapter of my memoir, Flying Changes: The Education of an Amateur Horsewoman. Later in the week, you may find me framing urban photographs for a gallery submission, or creating a color palette for an oil and cold wax abstract painting.

These activities are all different dialects of the same voice. Four passions woven into one creative life. One woman. One life. Many expressions. And it is my creative birthright to fully occupy each one without reservation, without the attendant shame I carried for years because I couldn’t shrink myself to fit society’s version of successful.

It’s impossible to pigeonhole creators like us. Once I gave myself permission to stay curious, to carry many callings, to live creatively without apology, the shame I’d grown accustomed to feeling vanished and was replaced by palpable joy.

As a creative midwife at The Footloose Muse, I write for women who’ve been told they’re too scattered. For creatives who keep trying to niche themselves into boxes that shrinks them. For souls who know they’re more than one label, one job, one passion, but have never been given language for it.

This is a place for wide hearts and many callings. For those who sew, paint, wander, write, sometimes all in the same week. You’re not late. You’re not too much. You’re right on time. It means your spirit is multilingual. Stop asking it to choose one language.

If you’ve ever been told that you need to narrow yourself down to be taken seriously, let me say this plainly: nothing is wrong with you. Some of us are not meant to pick one thing. Some of us are meant to integrate many. Every one of us arrives gifted. The only question is whether we dare to unwrap the gifts we’ve been given, and embrace them fully.

(If my words spoke to you today and you’d like to support this work in a small way, you can leave a token of appreciation below. No obligation, just gratitude.)