Editors note: I’m thrilled to publish Puttylike’s first piece from our new regular contributor, D.J. Billings. With a true multipotentialite’s breadth of life experience, including many years of publishing experience, D.J. is a welcome addition to our crew. If that wasn’t exciting enough, this is also the first Puttylike Comic. Hope you love it as much as we do!
It was a lazy Sunday morning. I was finishing the dregs of my coffee and catching up on all the super important internet memes I had missed during the work week. Somehow, in the magical world of the internet leading us into things we would not normally pursue, I saw a Pinterest board about making a zine.
Of course, in true multipod fashion, I seized upon the idea. I was suddenly filled with the energy of a thousand suns. Maybe it was just the caffeine kicking in, but I knew what I had to do.
Without really having any sort of plan, or even a smidgen of an idea where this was going, I pulled out my paper and pencils. Soon, I was ensconced in a mad creative place where time (and showers) ceased to exist.
Before I knew what had happened, I had an eight-page, fully illustrated zine neatly folded in front of me. And that would be the end of my Sunday story, except that in my world – particularly as a multipotentialite – somehow doing something new and wildly creative is never quite enough.
I had questions. What should I do with this little piece of genius? Should I share this? It cannot just sit here on my desk! I had visions of making hundreds of copies and mailing them all over the world for free.
And that was not enough. No! Because if I can send them out for free, why not charge a little money for them? At least to cover postage. And envelopes. And pencils. And ink. Then there’s my time, of course. Yes! I was no longer resting on my creative laurels, I was dreaming big dreams of building an entire zine empire. Money would flow in and I would retire early. I could employ thousands! I could buy my own paper company, invest in scissor manufacturing. In my mind, my new entrepreneurial endeavor was already a massive success.
As the day wore on, I managed to shower and do other non-zine things. Somewhere between lunch and the grocery store, a sort of malaise about my zine venture began to manifest. What happened? I had been so pumped earlier. I thought that maybe I was just coming down from the caffeine.
I started thinking about all the things I had to do and wanted to do on a daily basis. As a multipotentialite, I’m already used to having my hands in lots of pies at once. Even though I had accepted that about myself a long time ago, I still felt a little guilty exploring yet another area of creativity. My time and energy were pretty much maxed out already.
Where exactly was I going to fit in zine empire-building?
I reminisced about the long ago past, when I had created my first zine. When I realized that in fact it was only about four hours earlier, I was shocked. How did I move so quickly from breezy, fun weekend activity to having my own private zine jet? And what is a zine jet?
After some mindful contemplation (i.e, watching a holiday movie), I went back and picked up my zine. It was a cute little thing. Bits of ink and whimsy on folded paper. It had been madcap fun creating it. It put me back in my childhood, where I would get lost in a creative project for hours. Sitting at my desk with glue and paper or an electronics kit, I was transported to a hyper-focused world where hunger and cleanliness did not matter.
As a kid, I also enjoyed fantasies of creating entrepreneurial empires out of my whimsy. I will probably never grow out of that. In my adulthood, I have started to accept the part of myself that needs to be doing lots of different things to stay mentally balanced and whole. And maybe, if I can accept that, I can also accept that the joy of creating something new can really just be in the doing.
Your Turn
Do you ever get ahead of yourself when starting something new? Share your creative multipotentialite foibles in the comments!
Hi.
Thank you very much for this fabulous article and comic.
I love this.
I have many options for fun everyday. For examle, composing music, writing novel, drawing, and SNS, and creating video of Youtube.
I pick up one of the options what I want to depends on my mood the day.
But sometimes, I feel anxiety, worrisome, like if I could not handle
these fun things.
It changes the appearance from fun things to nightmare.
At the time, I stop to do face the emotion, and sleep.
After waking up, I feel pretty good.
Hi Sohhei,
Thank you! I love that – taking time to just stop and listen to what you’re feeling, then sleeping on it. I’ve also noticed that things usually look different the next day.
Thanks for the great story. I absolutely love it and – oh oh – I can totally relate to it. Especially the ‘hangover’ feeling once you get out of your focus-dream-big-activity. I tend to feel so miserable then and often beat myself up (mentally) for having spent some many hours that lead to ‘nothing’. As you say: let’s value the joy of the doing, regardless of the outcome. Hope to see and read more of you. Greeting from icy Belgium.
Thanks, Sofie! “Hangover” feeling is a great way to describe it. The drinking analogy is really interesting. In the same way, if you take time to really enjoy what you’re drinking instead of guzzling like you’re at a college party, you avoid the hangover. 🙂
In one word: everyday!
Thanks DJ!
I love comics <3
Sandra Italy
Thank you, Sandra!
Ooooh such an accurate representation of a multipotentialite life! I have often said I eat business ideas for breakfast. Just thinking about the previous sentence gives me two new business ideas I want to explore.
I believe a lot of multipotentialites know that feeling well. I’ve been working on training that part of myself to enjoy an activity or a new idea without always thinking on the entrepreneurial side of my brain. It’s so tempting, though. Deciding which ideas and activities merit developing as a business and which ones are best enjoyable for what they are is such an individual choice.
I LOVE IT.
That first rush of exploration and idea is the best, and the need for hygiene is remarkably intrusive at times.
“Intrusive hygiene.” LOL, I couldn’t have put it better. Thank you!
This made me laugh ! I think I relate to this as much as anything! … qualifier … I’m a very clean person 😀 but I often wish someone would hurry and invent the walk through shower from the original Total Recall Movie … 60 seconds and I’ve gone from out of bed ruffled to clean, dressed, face and hair done – without having moved on from any of those delicious morning creative bursts!
Ha! So I just went down a memory lane–rabbit hole thing with Total Recall. Fun. So why don’t we have those showers yet?
I can relate to that. lol. Lots of ideas come and go around my house.
Here, too. I think it would be fun to put up a big chalkboard in the middle of the house where everyone can just write their ideas down as they come to them.
I can totally relate. I also tended to think of how I could expand a project as a child… My imagination ran really wild.
I agree with the fact that finding joy in the process itself is what matters most, regardless of receiving any other reward in the form of money or success).
Nevertheless, becoming enthused with the idea of expanding a project (without getting overwhelmed by it or without feeling obliged to do it) is an interesting trait. Barbara Sehr (who named multipotentialites “scanners” suggested the idea of creating a “Da Vinci Notebook” (or “Scanner Notebook”) in which to write about all those ideas that come to our mind, even if we don’t necessarily develop them. Our creativity and our ability to plan and think big is also rewarding. 🙂
For me, one of the great joys of being a multipotentialite is the ability to not only realize an idea or passion I want to pursue, but to act on it in a relatively short time. Even if it comes to nothing, I love to celebrate that initial, very childlike, magical feeling of exploration.
That’s it! 🙂 As if it were possible to get the whole picture of the project quickly.
This is wonderful D.J.! Definitely relatable.
Thanks, Julianne!
Amazing comic, DJ! Thank you!
I am a would-be comic strip/book artist. I struggle to stay focused due to my multipod ways.
My mind often gets carried away with entrepreneurial fantasies when I get that spark of excitement. Although, I often think, “Gosh, what’s wrong with my ego?”
I never suspected that it may just be part of my multipotentialite personality. This really helped clear that up. Moving forward, I think I can just appreciate being in that zone as enthusiasm (not ego) and just enjoy the ride!
That’s awesome, Robin!
Hey maybe it could be a source of passive income though! Very cute and funny! And yes, I totally relate. Here are some business ideas that haven’t gotten completed: a baby pants line (well, I made five and they are in a boutique though), a sourdough bakery (I had my price list and different flavors), a crepe restaurant (this was in the 90s, I would be rich now), etc… Thanks for the laughs!
Thanks, Melissa! I can totally relate. With the number of cafes and restaurants I’ve built in my head, there’s a whole neighborhood up there.
Getting your baby pants in a boutique is a real world big deal. Nice!
Great read. I have to admit I’ve had several of those moments. In fact… I own 30 plus website names that happened due to the same addiction of an idea that moves so fast and was so big I had to protect my idea with a .com purchase. HA! Thanks for helping me forgive my self for those moments.
Sav, it would be interesting to do a correlation study on multipotentialites and the number of website domains purchased but never used, lol.
Absolutely! In the past few years I’ve started so many projects/business ideas thinking this was the “next big thing” or “my lucky break.” HAHA! Web design, candle making, t-shirt printing, life coaching, personal training, and the list goes on. This literally felt like you illustrated my life. Love it!
Thank you, Alyssa! That’s good to hear. As a multipod, I often think that it must only be me that goes through this stuff. Discovering that there’s a whole community of people like us who feel this way is encouraging.
I recently became fascinated with comparing the different presentation of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet. When I had gotten watching the shows out of my system, I felt compelled to share what I had learned. Maybe start a blog? Then I could share my research on Little Women, Amazons, and King Arthur! Then I realized that I was “Nutcrackered out,” and I might as well wait for next year to watch all the versions and make a written comparison….
Isn’t it funny how that happens? I have so many interests myself that I binge on and then put away for a year (or more). Then something sparks it all again. I think it’s kind of awesome, I’m personally learning to develop those feelings as a super power instead of feeling shame about it.
I actually laughed out loud while saying “Yesss” to this comic. This was me this weekend just making ink drawings on some cheap canvas bags. I built a whole empire in my head- made some for friends and sent them out too! and Then woke up Monday like- oh wait, I’m already building an empire for something else- this was so entertaining, and validating. I’m new to the Puttyverse, so I’m still realizing the breadth of people like me, and this was so well done thank you! -K
Thanks, Kelsey! It’s a very familiar feeling for sure. I wonder how many empires we’ll be creating by this time in March. 🙂
I have never felt like I belonged to a community as much as I do with the multipotentialite community. Reading articles and seeing related posts in so incredibly validating. Now insteadvof thinking what is wrong with me, I feel I can just accept my need to have these surging urges to create, and it is OK if it is just that.
That’s awesome, Martina. It is a great community.
Fabulous! I have been there, and done that. I’ve had so many passion projects that I immediately imagined should become my whole focus. I fully pursued a couple of them. The rush you get from that initial newness is pretty addicting.
I have come to realize that while there are many many things I want to do, I don’t actually want to do any one of them ALL THE TIME. That distinction really helped take the edge off that feeling that “this new project is ‘the One’, I should totally change course to follow it, it’s my ‘passion’, I finally found it.” It turns out, having many different projects is my passion, and leaving space to pursue them at will, rather than trying to hammer one of them into the shape of a life’s purpose, feels a lot more rewarding and a lot less like I just haven’t got my s*** figured out.
Hi Vicky,
I love this: “…having many different projects is my passion… .” That’s such a great way to think about it. It also speaks to the societal ideal that we all have just one grand purpose, when in fact many of us discover multiple purposes and worthwhile pursuits throughout our lives. It’s a very fortunate and empowering thing to realize this and shed ourselves of that societal baggage.
I had this one waiting in my inbox to read at the time I needed it most, but could also “handle it” the best. Today’s the day. D.J., it’s like you reached into my brain and drew it all over this page. Just a couple weekends ago, I was inspired by paper weaving collages on IG and found myself in a mad scramble suddenly making a paper weaving collage and transported into the future of a paper weaving collage career. Dear lawd!! The struggle is REAL!! Now I just need this tattoo’d on my inner eyelids: “I can also accept that the joy of creating something new can really just be in the doing.” THANK YOU.