Go All In: Let Curiosity Lead the Way

When my son Hudson was in preschool he was obsessed with garbage and recycling trucks. Mondays and Thursdays were sacred. We would wait for the trucks to come with excitement of a celebrity sighting. Hudson would jump up and down as garbage collectors arrived and wave happily to them.

We would occasionally arrive late to nursery school on those days if the garbage or recycling guys were running behind schedule. Luckily, he went to a preschool that supported his passion and welcomed his late arrival with open arms.

When we visited my brother and sister-in-law, they took us to a recycling facility where we could actually see them separating the recycling. I mean it was too good to be true! Heaven! When we were away with my extended family on vacation, my dad heard 4-year-old Hudson sneak out of our rental house early to watch the garbage collectors. My dad joined him as he watched. Thank goodness my dad is a light sleeper and an early riser.

Hudson’s interests were deep and intense. And they shifted without warning from loving guitars to garbage to construction to sports to politics. I don’t know how he knew when to move on and dive into something new, but he did with all of his being. There was no doubting, no questioning, he just jumped into the next thing and he didn’t look back.

His curiosity and his desire for a depth of knowledge about different topics remains. By following his lead when he was 3, I like to think he learned that his curiosities were important and worthy of his time and attention. We paid attention to his enthusiasm which was easy because he was not subtle about it. Whatever he felt when the topic of garbage/construction/sports/politics came up was organic and intrinsic.

We can all learn from this. We can listen carefully to what is interesting to us. We can follow breadcrumbs. We just need to pay attention. Push out the noise. I’m pretty sure Hudson didn’t worry whether others were equally interested in garbage. He didn’t question his choice. And we shouldn’t either. We should fill our life with what interests us as much as possible. If you can find a career doing it, fantastic! But if you can’t, there are other ways to lean into your passions and curiosities. The first step is to notice.

I encourage my clients to slow down and notice how things feel.

I encourage them to go down rabbit holes and follow their curiosity.

What do you want to learn more about?

What makes you sneak away to learn more?

Find people who support your passion like Hudson’s nursery school teachers. Find people who encourage your excitement and understand that your passion may sometimes interfere with life.

Don’t belittle what excites you. Listen carefully. It may be a quiet voice that needs attention. And then go all in.

Do you want to explore how to pursue your passions? Do you want to learn how to pay attention to your quiet voice? Do you want to go “all in” on something? I may be able to help! Set up a discovery call here.