A Birthday… A Community Collaboration… And a Contest!

Hey multipotentialite friends,

Puttylike will be 10 years old next week! It’s a huge deal, and one that deserves a big celebration.

The thing is…

I’m feeling kind of overwhelmed right now. I have a lot going, personally. And with everything that’s happening in the world, I’m just honestly not in the most celebratory mood. (Despite the super peppy, pre-2020 photo at the top of this article.)

It sucks. And I could try to fake it—be a “good marketer” or whatever. But that’s not really my style. I’m a big fan of feeling what you’re feeling and being wherever you’re at.

So, here’s what I propose: 

Let’s not try to celebrate multipotentiality in some abstract, YAY-MULTIPOTENTIALITES-ARE-AWESOME! sort of way. Instead, let’s celebrate within the context of 2020 and how we’re all feeling.

Here on Puttylike, we often look at being a multipod as a personal and professional strength. That reframing is so important when you’ve grown up in a world that tells you doing/being/exploring many things is wrong. But for this anniversary, I would like to focus less on the Self and more on the collective. 

I want to know how embracing your multipotentiality has made you a better human.

I don’t mean how it has made you better at work, or resulted in a more interesting life. I mean, how has embracing your plurality made you more compassionate or empathetic toward others? Has it made you better at helping different people understand each other? Has it made you a better community member or ally?

For me, being a multipotentialite has taught me to embrace the nuance and complexity within myself, but also in others. I’ve become more comfortable with the fact that I can’t easily be described and I no longer try to quickly define others. 

I’ve learned to categorize less and listen more. When I meet someone, I’m far less interested in knowing “what they do” than I am in learning about their projects, fascinations and hobbies. I want to know about the weird subject they’re totally obsessed with right now. I want to be surprised by their unconventional background and the seemingly random things they’ve done in the past. 

If they identify with multiple labels or identities, I want to appreciate their unique intersections, while also being comfortable with the fact that I will never truly “get” them—or anyone. At least not fully. 

We are complex. We are surprising. We are contradictory. We are always changing and growing. And that nuance—that quality of being un-pinpointable—while it might frustrate the human brain at times, is a beautiful thing.

That is what I’ve learned from embracing my multipotentiality. What about you?

The Community Collaboration + Contest

Alright, there’s your prompt! Now to make this Puttylike anniversary even more fun, I’m going to give away a copy of Renaissance Business, Work Your Work! AND a lifetime membership to the Puttyverse to three lucky multipods.

To be entered in the contest, just answer this question on social media and use the hashtag #Puttylike10 so I can find it:

How has embracing your multipotentiality made you a better human?

Your social media post can be in any format: make a video, write something, create a graphic, make art. Let’s use ALL THE MEDIUMS (multipod style), and get a dialogue going about how embracing one’s plurality is a good thing for the world. I might even share some of my favourite social media posts in a new Puttylike article.

Don’t forget to use the hashtag #Puttylike10 (and feel free to use #multipotentialite too, if you like) so I can find your post. I’ll pick three winners at random.

The deadline to publish your #Puttylike10 posts on social media is this Friday, September 25 at 11:59pm EDT.

Thanks, you guys. It’s been an amazing decade, and I can’t wait to see where our community and movement go in the next 10 years!!!

Love, 
Emilie