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A home for multipotentialites!

How Embracing Our Multipotentiality Makes Us Better Humans

Here's what you had to say.By Emilie Wapnick

Photo courtesy of RF._.studio.

Hoo boy. These sure are interesting times, aren’t they? I find myself wanting to seek out goodness right now. You know, like kindness, authenticity, sensitivity, quiet…

My tolerance for endless social media fighting is all but gone. There’s so much noise right now. I just want to be around nice, compassionate, intelligent folks. I want grown-up vibes!

The next few weeks are likely to feel pretty rocky, especially for Americans. Here at Puttylike, our mission is to support multipotentialites, so we’ll be publishing pieces that will hopefully provide you with some strength, comfort and a little inspiration, too.

In this spirit, I’d like to feature some of your wonderful #Puttylike10 posts from a few weeks back.

If you recall, I asked you guys the following question:

How has embracing your multipotentiality made you a better human?

There were so many great responses and unfortunately, there isn’t space to share them all today. But here are just a few that made my heart feel so full. Please enjoy these wise words from some of the awesome multipotentialites in our community.

Saba Saleem Warsi: Artivist, writer, entrepreneur, speaker and game designer

View this post on Instagram

#puttylike10 #multipotentialite There have been times when I’ve been frustrated for not wanting just that ONE passion in life. Times when i have felt guilty for abandoning a project. Times when I’ve been questioned, “why can’t you make up your mind?” But now, i embrace my multipotentiality. And guess what, being a multipotentialite makes me a better mother. One day we are making outfit tiktoks, the next we are making up our own songs on the ukelele. When he’s old enough he’ll have a mom that can to teach him how to kickbox, how to code, videography, how to make probiotic cabbage, how to arm knit, and so much more. He won’t have to choose one path, unless he wants to. Everyday is beautiful and different and vibrant and exciting. @puttylike_hq

A post shared by Saba Saleem Warsi (@sabasaleemwarsi) on Sep 22, 2020 at 3:46am PDT

Alyson Wagner: Book nerd and fiction writer

“I grew up in a biracial, bicultural home and spent a good chunk of my childhood moving and traveling around the world with my family. This early exposure to different countries, languages, and cultures primed me for a multi-passionate mindset, an insatiable hunger for lifelong learning, and the ability to understand many different perspectives.

In recent years, I’ve also developed a strong desire to make meaningful connections with more and more people so that my compassion and humanity will grow. I love being a bridge builder, serving as a translator of ideas, cultures, and perspectives across differences.

Learning to wholeheartedly embrace my own multipotentiality—my colorful, ever-revolving kaleidoscope of interests, passions, values, strengths, flaws, contradictions, and quirks—requires self-compassion. I’m realizing that the more compassion I allow for myself, the more compassion I can give to those around me. And this compassion helps me to recognize that as humans, we are all multifaceted, multidimensional beings with unique gifts to give each other (yes, I mean everyone: both multipotentialites and specialists!).

So, I don’t know if I can say I have become a better human as a result of my multipotentiality, but I can definitely say my multipotentiality has helped to spur me on in my lifelong journey to becoming a better human. And to me, becoming a better human means becoming someone with more love, faith, hope, mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, trust, and generosity. A tall order, no? That’s why it’s going to take the rest of my life to get there. But it’s worth the journey.”

Mark S. Merritt: Writer, musician, educator and improviser

Excerpt from Mark’s wonderful blog post:

“For however obvious my own multipotentiality has always been to me, I’ve also often resisted it, wishing it wasn’t there, wishing I’d specialized, still often feeling compelled to specialize. We live in a world that thrives on division of labor, on specialization. More insidiously, it encourages us to cut parts of our identities off from ourselves, and to cut others off from us. It encourages I vs. other, us vs. them. Our culture’s drive to divide and disintegrate is strong, and I’ve succumbed to it many times. But I’ve long recognized that, anytime any of us plunges parts of ourselves or others into the shadows, fundamentally no good comes from it. It can feel good, in certain ways, for a time. We can feel right — but only in the sense of righteousness, not true rightness. We can feel powerful — but only in the sense of power over others, not power with others. We can feel safe — but only in the sense of fighting fear and scarcity, not genuine calm and ease. The feelings that come from cutting ourselves off are half-hearted and skewed. And they come at a cost.

And the cost is too high.

At some point, with nothing about interest-and-skill-based multipotentiality in mind, I started to see the importance of acceptance all the parts of ourselves as crucial for cultivating emotional intelligence and maturity. Now, for me, multipotentiality is easier to accept — and is about much more than just interests and skills. It’s about feelings. It’s even about values. When we cling to limited identities, limited ideas about ourselves and others, we literally cannot see how much bigger we, and others, are.”

Sam Andrews: developer, designer, and maker

Vikki Coombes: coach, author and CEO

How has embracing my multipotentiality made me a better human? #puttylike10 Puttylike Emilie Wapnick

Posted by Vikki Coombes on Friday, September 25, 2020

Gayatri: dental surgeon, clinical researcher and content creator

Make sure to click on the right arrow:

View this post on Instagram

A Decade! WOW! ?? ?Happy Birthday, Puttylike! Way to go! Keep rocking! Everytime I felt irrelevant and alone @puttylike_hq was there to show that I'm not alone! Congratulations to @emiliewapnick! ? Wishing you loads of happiness, peace and success. ? Thanks (from every multipod) for being our inspiration! You deserve this and much more! ??? Best wishes from an out-and-proud multipotentialite! . . . . . #multipod #multipotentialite #puttylike10

A post shared by Gayatri | Eclectomorph (@_s_r_i_s_h_t_i_) on Sep 25, 2020 at 7:53am PDT

Bradley Clark: Artist and speaker

Again, click on the right arrow so you don’t miss all of Bradley’s awesome incarnations:

View this post on Instagram

Embrace your Multipotentiality. I have always loved a lot of things. Not just a lot of things, but a lot of things at the same time. As a kid I loved raising and training animals. Birds, dogs, cats, rats, mice. I loved Magic, and art and played every sport. I’d also stand on the sidelines and call the play-by-play, imitating Howard Cosell. I’m thankful my Mom encouraged me and supported me to do whatever I wanted to do. As an adult I still like animals, and get excited about researching and learning new things… Painting, lettering, sketching, shooting, editing, producing videos, writing, gardening, speaking, story-telling, comedy, event planning, game design… the list goes on and on. I’ve given up trying to be one thing when I grow up. I’m a Multipotentialite. I have multiple passions and multiple potentials. Embracing this has made me happier. I’ve learned to stop fighting who I am, and start embracing the Energy. Going with the Flow. Embracing my quirky complexity, has helped me to realize and accept that we are all complex, multifaceted beings. I’ve stopped getting mad at people for their differing beliefs. I’ve stopped trying to lecture my adult kids. I’ve stopped searching for differences, and now try to search for connection. I’ve realized it’s okay to have different interests, different beliefs, and different values; that’s what makes us all interesting and Awesome. I don’t want to un-friend you or dis you, or think of you as stupid or lame based on your political views…. or anything else that is not the same as me. Arguing and fighting and name calling won’t make you change, or make me feel better. I’m looking for how we are similar, how we can connect, how we can collaborate. How I can help you live your best life. We don’t have to talk (or fight) about religion, or politics, or anything else that we don’t agree on. It’s great to be passionate about what you believe, but don’t allow it to blind you and make you hate someone who doesn’t share the same belief. It’s okay to be different. It’s okay to be complex. We’re all more alike than different. #Multipotentialite #Puttylike10 #CreatingaLifeyouLove #passionandpurpose

A post shared by Bradley Clark (@bradleypdx) on Sep 24, 2020 at 10:51pm PDT

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure feeling some warm and fuzzies right about now! I love our community.

Your Turn

How has embracing your multipotentiality made you a better human? If you haven’t had a chance to share yet, please do so in the comments below.

Published on October 13, 2020
community compassion confidence


Emilie Wapnick (they/she) is the founder and creative director at Puttylike, The Puttyverse and Wingtip Astrology, where they help multipotentialites build lives and careers around ALL their interests. Unable to settle on one path themself, Emilie studied music, art, film production and law, graduating from the Law Faculty at McGill University. They are the author of the award-winning book, How to Be Everything (HarperCollins), and their TED talk has been viewed 8 million times. You can learn more about Emilie here.

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  1. Allie says

    October 13, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    Sometimes my partner gets stressed out by my “always changing” path, the seeming “lack of stability and predictability” and he feels like he never understands where I’m at. When this comes up, it really hurts. Of course, I don’t feel that way…. but the sneaky old self-doubt creeps in and I wonder… “Am I impossible to understand? Am I all over the place? Will I ever feel stable?” Then I come on here and I read articles and voices from other multipotentialites and it gives me a sense of belonging. Just knowing y’all are out there and you understand me and I’m not alone. You know, that whole thing of “being seen”. It’s invaluable. Thank you, Emilie, for creating this community and bringing us amazing, eclectic, diverse, interesting, and powerful people together!! (PS, we should lobby to get multipotentialite in the dictionary.)

    Reply
    • Emilie Wapnick says

      October 14, 2020 at 9:32 pm

      Aw, thanks Allie. It’s so awesome to hear that Puttylike’s been helpful. If you haven’t seen this article, it might help with your partner: https://puttylike.com/help-my-multipotentialite-partner-is-stressing-me-out/

      Reply

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