When I got really into podcasts in 2022, I listened to an Oprah’s Super Soul episode that featured author Elizabeth Gilbert. I’d heard of her before – I love Eat Pray Love and Big Magic. Watching my life unfold ever since I left University has been both beautiful and jarring. I’ve always felt unsettled – passionate about so many different things, filled with so many loves and ideas, but never wanting to stick with one for too long. In this podcast episode, Elizabeth Gilbert talks about two types of people and two types of concepts – passion and curiosity. Learning about this changed my life, so hopefully it will change yours too, and you can start to follow your curiosity.

Chasing your passion

I’m sure I’m not the only one that grew up being told that I had to find my purpose or passion in life. That one spark that pulled you towards it. One that you would chase relentlessly until you were in its orbit and nothing else mattered. I never had that. But I did see others who had it. In my late teens and early twenties, I went looking for my passion. I changed Uni courses four or five times before I finally settled on something I really liked. I finished my undergraduate degree in Anatomy and Human Biology (my favourite subject in school) and then continued on to do a diploma in Kinesiology. But now I’m 26 and I’m still lost. I didn’t love it enough to stick with it. It wasn’t my passion or my purpose. So I asked myself – now what?

Jackhammers and hummingbirds

After watching countless unhelpful Ted Talks, I found this podcast with guest star Elizabeth Gilbert. She said that she used to talk about the importance of finding one’s passion, until someone changed her outlook. This person, like me, had never had one. Now she talks about two types of people – she calls them jackhammers and hummingbirds. The jackhammers are the ones that are focused on one thing that drives them – their purpose. Someone that has grown up knowing where they are headed and rarely veers from that path. Hummingbirds, on the other hand, try this and try that, and in doing so, cross-pollinate the world with ideas. There is no one thing, but many (no matter how big or small) that spark joy. They follow their curiosity.

The tattoo

When I moved to London, I wanted to get a tattoo to remember this experience in my life. To create something permanent that represented both my growth and my desire for things in my life to be ever-changing. So I got my first tattoo – a hummingbird. Every day that I bring this idea to light is a day that I bring out the best version of myself. I embrace all of my different passions – singing, writing, lifting weights, reading, cooking, and creating a never-ending list of places I want to travel to and memories I want to create. I want to live a full life – not one driven by a single passion or purpose, but one that is complex and uniquely and weirdly woven.

Something we’re not

There are days that I wish I was a jackhammer person. Days when I wish I’d dedicated so much time and effort into one thing that I became so profoundly good at it. I don’t know if I will ever be incredibly good at something. That takes discipline, focus, and practice, and a lot of it. The longer I think about it, the more I know that will never be me. And as it turns out, I’m okay with that. Because despite seeing others and wanting to be a certain way, we are who we are. So instead of trying to be something we’re not, learn how you are and view it as a good thing. Like Elizabeth said, if we follow our curiosity, we might find that we end up in the exact place we’re supposed to be.

Yours,

Kait x

Cover photo by Cottonbro Studio