reinvention or finding flow

Is this reinvention or finding flow?

Yes.

And, it is a great deal of discovering me.

My therapist shared a story of a friend who was tired of answering the question, “What do you do?” at gatherings of people. He decided that he would print business cards that had his contact information on the front and a long list of everything he does on the back…

Spouse, father, friend, musician, designer, marketer, writer, bookkeeper, helper, volunteer, web designer, web maintenance tech, creative, singer, stringed-instrument player, dj, dreamer, people-pleaser, storyteller, cook, technology assistant, teacher, mentor, lego-builder, dog-walker, photographer, travel planner, AI adopter, handy person, care provider, videographer, video editor, social media manager, candlemaker, music leader, collaborator, public speaker, and jack-of-all-trades

So, that is my list, but you get the idea. The small talk conversation rarely offers the opportunity to unpack identity, but identity is the heart of the matter. For so many years, I moved from one title to another. I tried to pushback on what I saw as an older generational problem of letting one’s identity become wrapped up in a title—or that ONE thing you do—nevertheless, I fell into the title/identity conflation trap.

To be honest, the teaching field and ministry fields I was in allowed me to live into many of those things that I enjoy. Both fields offered the opportunity to find meaningful work while doing a lot of different things—until they didn’t. Well, in all honesty, I didn’t burn out in teaching, but I flamed out in ministry. It wasn’t killing me slowly. It was burning me up and everybody that I loved. Institutional protector to the detriment of your own life and family is not found in that list above. So what do you do when you recognize that wetiko — which, in my mind, births the capitalistic scarcity mindset — has deeply infected you as well as the community of people in whom you have merged your identity? Either wetiko kills you, or it wakes you up.

I’m still trying to wake up. It is a process. But I feel like, for the first time in a long time, I am on the path.

So, is this phase of life reinvention or finding flow? It is both, but it is mainly waking up to who I truly am.

For this moment, that means that I am embracing the gig economy and doing a lot of different things. Since I have ADD, maybe this will allow me to use it as a superpower. Who knows? I do know this: I am not a title, and you aren’t either.

Cheers to waking up.

Cheers to the journey.

Cheers to discovering more of me.

Cheers to discovering more of you.

Cheers to becoming more of the person my dog thinks I am.

And if you have a project or small gig that fits in that long list above and need a little help, that’s me. :) johnrcallaway@gmail.com

Much love,

John