Instead of dismissing your talent, double-down on it!
What if your "talent" is a secret gift you have been given?
“Talent is pointless & doesn’t exist!” they yell. You need to hustle & grind your ass off!
“You are sooo talented, I could never do that!” they say to the child drawing a picture, forgetting that they also can hold a colored pencil and draw.
Many of us also have heard: “You can’t make a living by being an artist. Better get a real job.”
So I wonder: What is this “talent-thingy” actually? Can you only apply the word “talent” to artists & creativity? Or can a mathematician be talented? Or a physicist?
What if we redefine “talent” as “predisposition”? A friend recently used this word, and I loved it because the scientist in me immediately saw the genetic connection!
A predisposition is something that we have inside of us, a type of skill or gift that has been given to us.
In my case, I was born with an artistic predisposition, coming from my dad, even though I also think my mom is highly creative, but he was the classical “artist”, so mini-Daria had this “talent” or predisposition from her dad.
What does this mean?
Basically, drawing and painting came easily to me, and I loved doing them.
I was able to create pieces that my same-aged friends were not able to. And what that meant basically was: I was able to draw in perspective, proportion & as realistic as possible for my age.
Funnily enough society often judges realistic paintings & drawings as divine, while abstract art is dismissed by many.
And: artistry & creativity are often only connected to art, music, writing, sculptures etc. Not to living e.g. an artistic & creative live as a banker or accountant. Or being a creative construction worker, or even a scientist.
Which to all I call bullshit, cos you can think creatively, speak artistically, dress & move in a creative way… art & creativity can be accessed by all of us!
But let me not deviate further…
I wanted to point out that we all know we inherit genes from our parents. Also behaviors, even traumata and emotional and mental shortcomings.
And not just from our parents, from our grandparents, great-grandparents etc.
There are scientific studies out there showing that genetic starvation markers are found several generations down the line from people who starved back in the days during war.
While their great-grandkids have all the food in the world, certain genes are still turned on or off because of their starving ancestors.
So: why would we ever dismiss something like artistic talent to exist & be encoded in our genes?
And with that I mean: an artistic predisposition is what comes easy to you! I believe it exists & it can be expressed in different ways in all of us: through painting, singing, writing, speaking, cooking, walking, constructing, you name it!
However, there is also this other aspect of all this, which I strongly believe in too:
Talent or predisposition alone don’t do much by themselves.
Let’s take myself as an example: just because drawing comes easy, doesn’t mean I am perfect at it. I need to practice and do it, to get better. Otherwise my predisposition will faint away.
I finally recognized my limiting believes around art & being an artist & became a scientific illustrator over 6 years ago. For that I needed to double-down on my “talent” and work on it & learn all kinds of other things along the way.
However: I loved every bit of it, because. I finally recognized and acknowledged this gift of mine!
We need to work on, or with, our talents and predispositions if we want them to grow and thrive in our lives.
We can’t be sitting lazy on our bums, feeling entitled, saying: “I got the great genes. Pay me 100 000 USD for my scribble or painting”.
Nope, this is not how it works. Just like in the case of wanting to break our behavioural generational patterns, we need to deal with them, we also need to hone our gifts.
Therefore I also believe, that if you want to, you can learn how to draw and to paint! If you love doing it, it will take you time, effort & practice to get better.
The thing is that if you love doing something, it becomes easier, effortless, and flowy, and you enjoy the learning process more.
Now, we have also been taught that we need to suffer for success, feel that its hard to get something or grow.
Which often leads us to dismiss that our talents or predispositions are something worthy to put effort into.
On which I call bullshit too, cos I believe we all are born with a certain set of skills, gifts, talents, predispositions, however you want to call them, to be of service to humanity.
Yes, I believe that there are people who are naturally better medical doctors than others, they are natural healers from the time they were born. There are also healers that don’t choose the classical medical path, but “alternative” routes & they help people to heal.
The same counts for lawyers, artists, construction workers, scientists, service personnel, etc…
But you know, even while writing this, I doubt my words a bit…
Why? Because I also believe we are all artists & scientists.
An artist is a creative person who is connected to their feelings, creating beauty in the world.
A chef can be an artist too, creating beautiful food. A farmer as well, creating a beautiful farm for his animals to live on.
A scientist is a person who is curious, asks questions & wonders about the world. Every child does that. A lawyer asks questions too, so does a banker and my accountant is curious about my entrepreneurial endeavours…
And if I am present, deeply listen to my friend’s pain and support her, I help her to heal & get better as well. Without being a medical doctor doing surgeries…
So what am I even saying here? Does this mean, we are all everything?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
I kind of like this idea, at the same time I know I like some things more than others, and I like to choose what I want to do & how to be of service to the world.
Maybe none of this matters in the end. As long as you want to do good, support humanity & society, be of service to improve our life situations, on any type of level, all is valid!
Let’s say, you know and feel you have a certain “talent” or predisposition for something that just comes easy to you: have you ever thought about doubling-down on it instead of maybe dismissing it?
Where could you imagine, that this doubling-down could lead you to?
Well… I would love to hear your thoughts on todays brain & thought ramblings and your experience around this topic!
I also hope it was not too confusing, cos I tend to spontaneously write out my raw thoughts & wonderings, and not edit them to death or AI-polish any of them.
I couldn’t be bothered, I rather have my messy human-ness published, than a polished perfect, fluffy & non-relatable generic piece of AI-pimped-up text.
Love from me to you!
Daria