It’s always fascinating to watch someone who has dedicated a lifetime to one major pursuit. I’ve seen some incredible things from those who’ve given juggling, strength sports, magic, or any other activity the lion’s share of their effort. However, as much as I enjoy watching what they can do, that isn’t my style.
Rather than focus all my efforts on one thing, I prefer to give a bit of my attention to a variety of things I enjoy. My loved ones are high in priority on my list, as are my main hobbies of juggling, unicycling, swing dancing, and card tricks. Some interests, such as Rubik’s Cubing and martial arts, are lower down on the list, although they have been higher up in the past as my list changes from time to time.
Some think that they have to make something their number one priority in order to become the best in the world at it. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t apply to me since I don’t want to be the best in the world at anything. I enjoy learning things for fun. I also enjoy sharing them with others, seeing the overlap between different activities, playing, watching myself improve, and using my experiences from learning one thing to help me learn another thing. Plus, it’s wonderful to get into an activity, listen to others gush over it with each other, and talk with them as a fellow enthusiast once I’ve learned enough about it. Since I have several hobbies, I can do this with far more people than if I only had one. All of that is more important to me than besting anyone, let alone everyone, at anything.
In some cases, the idea of getting famous for being one of the best at something makes some people dedicate their whole lives to it. However, becoming one of the most skilled persons at a particular activity is no guarantee of getting famous. Sometimes moderately skilled people become much more famous than those who are among the best in the world. With any kind of performance, a moderately skilled yet highly entertaining person is much more likely to become a household name than a highly skilled yet moderately entertaining person. None of this is a concern for me since I enjoy living a simple and private life to the point that I don’t want to be famous.
There is also the issue of making an activity one’s entire identity. If someone who does that ever becomes unable to participate in that activity, it can send them into an existential crisis from which they may never recover. In some cases, folks have taken their own lives when they couldn’t separate their identity from what they once did. Pursuing multiple interests makes me much less likely to identify with any of them, and it also gives me other things to do if I ever stop doing one of them, so those dangers are minimized.
I’d rather have a little bit of several wonderful things than a lot of one thing and little to none of anything else. My whole approach to this can be summed up by the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than master of one”. This came in handy during a gig shortly before last Christmas. I had only planned on juggling during the show. However, in addition to juggling, I was also asked to dance during a few of the numbers. I gladly did, first with someone I’ve regularly danced with since 2017 and later with a member of the audience. The fact that I could both juggle as planned and dance on short notice that night delighted me. I’m far from alone when it comes to having multiple talents since almost everyone I’ve met through swing dancing has at least one other hobby outside of dancing. A handful of us have enough hobbies that we could put on a variety show that features around a dozen different acts. I love that.
As much as I enjoy watching folks who’ve put everything they have into a chosen activity, hearing them talk about what that has cost them puts it all into perspective. Some put everything that doesn’t get them closer to reaching their goals on the back burner. Later on, they lament the damage it’s done to their bodies, the reduced quality of life they will have for the rest of their days, and, especially, the time they have lost with their loved ones, some of whom have since died or become estranged. The point about loved ones in particular always reminds me that I want a healthy balance in my own life. I’d take that any day over going all in on one thing to the detriment of everything else and the regrets that I know would follow.
Although I spent a lot of time with my dog Sawyer during his life, I could have spent even more time with him if I’d arranged my priorities differently. Sometimes he’d come knock on my door in the morning. I’d usually let him in but not always. On several occasions, I told him to come back after I’d finished writing, meditating, doing breathwork, or whatever else I was doing at that time. Toward the end of his life, and especially after he died, I wished I’d let him in every time he knocked and resumed my previous activity after our visit was finished. Similarly, I wished I’d taken him on many more walks and focused more on the present moment when we were hanging out. As guilty as I still feel for all of that, I’m certain I’d feel much greater guilt if I’d spent hardly any time with him due to focusing almost exclusively on one main activity.
Perhaps the only thing stopping me from pursuing one thing at the expense of everything else is the boredom I feel after spending too much time on any given subject. Even when something becomes my main focus, it never stays that way for long. Since I’ve become much more thoughtful and intentional with all of this, I’ve gotten even better at balancing a variety of activities without any one of them taking over my life. I’m glad that, overall, I’ve gotten here fairly easily; even the lessons I learned the hard way still weren’t nearly as hard as they could have been. I hope that I’ll get even better at maintaining a proper balance of everything that’s important to me as I go through life.