I Wish I Wasn’t Good at So Many Things

I have a confession: sometimes I wish I was worse at things.

Not in a dramatic, “I want to fail at life” kind of way. More in a “would someone please make me spectacularly bad at one of these options so I can cross it off the list?” kind of way.

Because every career test I've ever taken has basically told me the same thing:

“You can do anything you put your mind to!”

And honestly?

THAT IS NOT HELPFUL.

I know I can do things.

That's the problem.

If the test could just tell me, “You're terrible at accounting, you hate customer service, and you have the spatial awareness of a Roomba stuck under a couch, so congratulations—you have eliminated three career options,” I would be thrilled.

Instead, I get a list of 47 careers I'm apparently perfectly suited for, a personality description that sounds suspiciously like a horoscope, and absolutely no indication of what I'm actually supposed to pick.

Apparently, I'm creative. I'm adaptable. I'm organized. I'm good with people. I'm good independently. I like learning. I like solving problems. I like writing. I like business. I like helping people.

Cool.

So am I supposed to become a writer, entrepreneur, teacher, marketer, designer, project manager, consultant, therapist, astronaut, or just start a podcast about my inability to choose a career?

Oh.

Wait.

I already did that.

The problem with being good at a lot of things is that everyone thinks you've won some sort of life lottery.

“You have so many options!”

Yes.

And I would like fewer, please.

Because being capable sounds wonderful until you realize that every ability creates another possibility, and every possibility creates another decision.

And if you're anything like me, every decision immediately creates approximately 900 follow-up questions.

“What if I choose the wrong thing?”

“What if I'm actually better at something else?”

“What if I could make more money doing that?”

“What if I go back to school?”

“What if I start a business?”

“What if I get a job?”

“What if I work for myself?”

“What if I work for someone else?”

“What if I move?”

“What if I don't move?”

“What if I become a professional candle maker?”

At this point, my brain doesn't need a career counselor.

It needs adult supervision.

The funny thing is that being good at multiple things is usually treated like a superpower. People tell you you're versatile, talented, creative, resourceful, and full of potential.

And I appreciate that.

I really do.

But there is a side of being capable that doesn't make it onto the inspirational quote graphic.

Sometimes, being good at a lot of things is exhausting.

Because if you're bad at something, the decision is easy.

Cross it off.

Done.

You don't have to wonder whether you should pursue a career in accounting if you nearly launched your laptop across the room because an Excel formula wouldn't cooperate.

But if you're kind of good at something?

Now you've got a problem.

Because maybe you could do it.

And if you could do it, maybe you should.

And if you should, maybe you're wasting your potential by not doing it.

And now you've somehow turned being decent at Canva into an existential crisis.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I'm supposed to do with all the things I'm capable of.

But lately, I've started wondering if that's the wrong question.

Maybe I don't need to figure out how to maximize every skill I have.

Maybe I don't need to turn every interest into a career.

Maybe I don't need to monetize every hobby, optimize every hour, or turn every mildly successful idea into a five-year business plan.

Maybe I just want a nice life.

A simple life.

A life where I have enough money to be comfortable, enough time to enjoy myself, enough energy to see my friends, and enough brainpower left at the end of the day to watch something stupid on Netflix without feeling like I should be learning a new skill.

Because apparently, we're supposed to be constantly improving ourselves.

Read more.

Exercise more.

Learn more.

Earn more.

Create more.

Network more.

Wake up earlier.

Drink more water.

Start a side hustle.

Build a personal brand.

Have passive income.

Become financially independent.

And please remember to journal about how grateful you are for the opportunity.

I'm tired just writing that.

Sometimes I don't want to maximize my potential.

Sometimes I want to sit on the couch.

And maybe that's okay.

Because being capable doesn't mean you have unlimited capacity.

Just because I can do something doesn't mean I should.

Just because I'm good at something doesn't mean I have to build my life around it.

Just because I could succeed at something doesn't mean I have to pursue it.

And just because someone tells me I have “so much potential” doesn't mean I need to spend the rest of my life proving it.

Maybe being good at something is allowed to just be... a fact.

You can be good at writing without becoming a full-time writer.

You can be creative without becoming an artist.

You can be organized without becoming a project manager.

You can be entrepreneurial without starting seventeen companies.

You can be good at helping people without making helping people your entire personality.

And you can absolutely know how to do something and still say:

“No thanks.”

I think that's the part I'm learning.

I don't actually want to use every ability I have.

I don't want every hobby to become a side hustle.

I don't want every idea to become a project.

I don't want every opportunity to become an obligation.

I want some things to just be fun.

I want to be allowed to be curious without turning that curiosity into a five-year plan.

I want to try something, enjoy it, and then move on without feeling like I have somehow failed because I didn't turn it into my life's purpose.

Because maybe the goal isn't to find the career that makes the absolute best use of my abilities.

Maybe the goal is to find something that fits the life I actually want.

And those are very different things.

I could probably do a lot of things.

But I don't want to spend my entire life doing things simply because I can.

I want to do things because I actually want to.

I want a life that doesn't constantly require recovery.

I want enough structure to know what day it is, but not so much structure that my calendar starts judging me.

I want enough ambition to keep life interesting, but not so much that I'm exhausted by Thursday.

I want hobbies that stay hobbies.

I want ideas that are allowed to remain ideas.

I want to occasionally be bad at something without immediately deciding I need to take a course about it.

And, honestly, I want to stop treating my life like one giant career aptitude test.

Because maybe I don't need another test telling me what I'm capable of.

Maybe I need one that asks:

“What are you actually willing to spend your limited time and energy doing?”

Or even better:

“What can you do without completely losing your mind?”

Now that is a career test I would pay for.

And I'm pretty sure the results would just say:

Congratulations! You need a nap.

Stay Warped and Twisted as ever,

Eve