{"id":19985,"date":"2018-09-03T20:24:53","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T00:24:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=19985"},"modified":"2022-09-03T19:15:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T23:15:10","slug":"monday-morning-moment-what-are-you-doing-these-days-the-utility-infielder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=19985","title":{"rendered":"Monday Morning Moment – “What Are You Doing These Days?” – the Utility Infielder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo Credit: Service Desk Show, James West<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was a little girl, the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was easy to answer. I wanted to be a nurse. Being on the serving end of helping people in crisis was the stuff that even populated my nighttime dreams. It was my passion as a child.<\/p>\n

In my teen years, teachers and other adults commended me on my writing. For years, kind people who actually read what I wrote have asked, “When are you going to write that book?” A much harder question for me than the earlier one.<\/p>\n

Photography, music and drama clubs were my loves in high school and college, mixed with a budding political activism. That activism was baby steps at first, with rallies and protests. Long conversations over coffee on Saturday mornings. Nothing requiring much commitment. Our military conflicts were confusing to me (with seemingly never an end in sight). In my youth, I would write to soldiers serving in far countries…doing my small part to encourage them and humanize their situation. I still have a box of letters from those soldier pen-pals.<\/p>\n

My girlhood goal was to do nursing overseas…among the poorest of the poor. Those strong youthful dreams directed me first to Emory University for nursing and grad school. Then a few years later to Yale University to teach. In the between time, my “poorest of the poor” turned out to be on the oncology unit of\u00a0Grady Hospital<\/a>, in Atlanta, Georgia’s inner city…<\/p>\n

The “what do you want to do when you grow up?” question took on a life of its own. As did the question: “What are you doing these days?”<\/p>\n

Depending on the season of life, it was cancer nursing, home-schooling mom, cross-cultural living, facilitating a cultural exchange program, teaching ESL, communications strategist\/social media manager, and finally freelance writing.<\/p>\n

Now…after all these seasons and address changes, the question, “What are you doing these days?” is mystifying. I almost feel a bit ashamed that I haven’t landed anywhere as a specialist in anything.<\/p>\n

Just this morning, a friend posted on her Facebook page a TED talk<\/a> that encouraged her…and it also encouraged me.<\/p>\n

The speaker on the TED talk was writer, creator Emilie Wapnick.\u00a0<\/a>She describes herself as a multipotentialite<\/em> which she defines<\/a> as “someone with\u00a0many interests and creative pursuits<\/strong>“.\u00a0 Wapnick is the founder of the website Puttylike<\/a>…out of which has evolved a fascinating global community of other multipotentialites.<\/p>\n