Expanding the Surface that intersects with Life — a Multipotentialite Tale

“I HAVE FOUND MY PURPOSE IN LIFE” — I screamed internally as I was having the “Aha moment!” that led me to write this article.

I was reflecting on how trying out different hobbies in life enabled me to unlock new ways of feeling and thinking. Last year, I picked up dancing and it felt like it opened up a whole new dimension to me — a window to new possibilities, new people to meet, and new emotions to experience.

If I think about it now… it’s not just about hobbies but about experiences in general — including meeting a new person or living in a new country — Basically, any experience that would create new neural pathways in your brain.

This reflection triggered my mind to come up with a visualization to convey the message I was trying to explain through words only. It goes something like this :

Visualize it this way. Whenever you experience something new in life, it enlarges or expands the surface that intersects with life — life being this unlimited pool of experiences and feelings you can have, both good and bad.

The more I pondered, the more passionate I got about this idea. To me, this meant that I was offered unlimited ways to feel alive as a human being.

Since I was a child, I found myself naturally drawn to the idea of experiencing as much as I could of everything. Filling my senses and working towards having a broader spectrum of feelings and thoughts was (and still is) my way of adding spice and meaning to the way I experience life. Growing up, I was sick of hearing the sentence “Mariem, focus on one thing at a time!”.

Then, I came across a term that I felt was representative of how I approached life. The term was “Mutipotentialite”. What is a Multipotentialite you might ask?

“A multipotentialite is a person who has many different interests and creative pursuits in life. Multipotentialites have no “one true calling” the way specialists do. Being a multipotentialite is our destiny. We have many paths and we pursue all of them, either sequentially or simultaneously (or both).” — Wikipedia

After reading this definition, my brain went like “Maybe my one true calling is this! Trying out as many things as possible!”. For the first time in forever, I felt less alone in this world. Maybe it was time for me to embrace the way I was and give it a proper shot — I thought.

I have also noticed that different hobbies can be connected in interesting ways — which made this whole thing 10 times more interesting and exciting. Being good at one thing can make you be good at another, even if we’re talking about two completely different activities, but this is a story for another day.