When I was younger, I wanted to be a doctor, a professor, and a journalist. I wanted to dabble in every activity from painting to algebra, and be a jack of all trades and master of some. The world was mine for the taking, and I, never aware of the limits imposed by the mindset of society, dreamt freely of my future. I scribbled down potential jobs- astronaut, ice cream taster, unicorn in seven year old writing into marbled composition books. I felt unburdened, happy, and free.
Fast forward three years.

Ten words. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
That’s all it took. I woke up, and reality set in.

After answering with four jobs, I was told that you couldn’t be more than one thing. That you’re only supposed to pick one thing you’re great at to specialize in. That having more than one job meant that you were downgrading yourself and your work from great to mediocre and killing your shot at success. That you only had one calling in life, one reason that you were put on this earth. Only one.

I felt disbelief, denial, and anger. It was Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy all over again. Just like those two times, I didn’t believe what I was hearing. But unlike those two times, I still don’t believe it. I don’t believe in pigeonholing yourself.

To specialize is to limit yourself. Being well rounded doesn’t mean you’re fickle, or limiting your mastery of each skill- it allows you to look at things from different perspectives and better adapt to a changing world and workforce. Being well rounded allows you to use your knowledge from one area of study to achieve success and fulfillment in all areas- painting allows us to better appreciate and observe nature, psychology allows us to successfully wheedle that last Girl Scout Cookie from someone. Most importantly, being well rounded allows us to just be ourselves.

Humans are naturally complicated. We’re careful and reckless, artistic and wild and logical- we’re too contradictory and multifaceted to be catalogued into a simple description like “nerd” or “jock”, and our careers are the same- we’re talented at more than one thing, we’re more than just one job, and choosing only one thing as your calling in life boxes you in and never lets you achieve anything more than that. We’re not meant to be only one thing- so why are we trying to be?