John Hagel talks about Passionate Creatives:
Many of us have suppressed our passions in an attempt to fit in and integrate ourselves into a world that expected stability, predictability and safety. But they remain in the margins of our lives or in the daydreams that distract us from our daily tasks. Our challenge is to re-discover and cultivate them, moving them from the margins into the center of our lives.
The article is a bit irritating at times – manifestos have a way of feeling dated once the emotions that drove their writing wears off – but captures a reality that I think many people experience daily. For a growing segment of society, geography no longer restricts opportunity. When I was at Red River College, I found great value in blogging as a means to connect with others outside of the college. There were only a few of us “online learning” folks at the campus…and many colleges/universities around the world also had a few. As a result, in pockets of two’s and three’s, a network of passionately creative people emerged around learning and technology.
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That quoted first paragraph really hits home for me. I’ve been trying to re-align my creative passions (music and art) for the past few years. At 49, it’s hard to stand still long enough to allow things to settle and see how to change direction and bring my _real_ interests (not the ones I forced myself to have in order to conform and earn a living in the world) closer to the centre of my activities. I was laid off three years ago from an IT post which had, in any case, ceased to be right for me… largely because the creative joy of early IT experience had been replaced with administrative tedium. Since then, I have come to the strong belief that a new career is required, and that the best way to arrive at this is through serendipity. By doing what I find I am good at, even though there is no obvious goal, I am increasingly confident that my combined interests will lead me to new opportunities. A career (or a job, at least) that I truely enjoy and am fullfilled by.