Pursuing New Interests - and Pizza
The first time I saw olives I was fascinated. They had the shape of a grape with the distinct ‘red dot’ on the top.
This was in an advert on television, and let's face it, food on ads looks great, but as a kid who knew that?
Given olives weren’t a staple ingredient in a South Indian household I never tasted one until much later, well into my teenage years.
It was at a pizza place where I saw it as an optional topping. It seemed like an appropriate time to eat olives for the first time and so I did. I decided to order a pizza with olives as one of the toppings.
" What’ll you have?" asked the person at the counter.
" I’ll have an Olive n’ Cheese," I said, building expectations in my head as I returned to our booth.
As the pizza arrived I did the traditional sprinkle of oregano and chill flakes.
My first impression was normal. Nothing fascinating about sliced olives.
Well into my first bite I was happy. The burst of cheese went well with the thin crust. It was perfect! or so I thought.
I felt this bitter sensation that ruined the moment for me. It was the olive chunk in my slice 😖. I relished the rest of my pizza but to this day I don’t like olives. I don’t order them and avoid them as much as I can.
Our assumption of potential hobbies or fields of interest is similar to my assumption of the olive.
We see people being good at something and they pull it off with great character. That makes us fall in love with the archetype of that discipline but not necessarily that discipline itself.
There’s a preconceived notion that the discipline is “cool” or “interesting” and that could very well be the case but our fascination primarily stems from the archetype especially when you see it via someone popular or someone you hold in high regard.
Take your favorite author for example. You could very well be fascinated by the concept of being a well-known writer and the perks that come with it but not necessarily the act of writing.
Writing is a skill that builds over time. By consistently committing to the craft one gets better over time before eventually putting out a book for the world to see, and hopefully, accept and tout the next bestseller.
While we’re going with the ‘writer’ analogy, this also extends to any other interest be it running, swimming, playing an instrument (this is a great example that I’ve seen far too often).
How do you decide whether you love the idea of being a writer or love writing itself?
It’s simple really. You commit to writing. You explore the path of a writer from ground zero.
That includes sitting down and writing, making writing an integral part of your life. Go with it for a while - a month, a year, or even more.
If you don’t enjoy it or even like it, you’ll know soon enough and if you love it, you’ll stick to it.
You can see what you’re doing wrong, whether you’re missing something or you simply don’t like doing it. If you don’t like it, that’s alright. It’s no different from my dislike of olives. You now know because you tried.
This approach of trying things out, things that supposedly interest us, is a great way to test whether we like something.
It enables us to find a new interest, expand our creativity, find an escape route, and if we’re lucky enough, a full-time job that we love.
So go ahead, pursue that interest that fascinates you. You’ll love it or worst-case scenario, find it to be an olive.
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