Life With a Slash

I’ve written before about doing what you love. From the time we are very small we are told to follow our dreams, but what does this advice really mean? It is the stuff of greeting cards and commencement speeches—uplifting but empty. Some people are lucky enough to find a calling early in life—one that leads them down a linear path and results in a lucrative career. But the majority of us muddle around a lot. We guess when choosing majors and jobs. We try to squash our interests into neat categories. We have schizophrenic resumes.

I have recently abandoned the idea of a tidy career. Sometimes I long for a real job title—one that elicits respectful nods at cocktail parties. But if there was really a single job that encompassed all my interests, I think I would have found it by now, so my new attitude is, ‘the more the merrier!’ I am a career polygamist.

Which means that I have learned to embrace the slash. I am a writer/environmental communications specialist. I enjoy and take pride in both parts of my identity. Making peace with my own non-linear career has opened my eyes to the many-splendored career paths of those around me. My immediate circle of friends includes, among others, a conservationist/photographer, a teacher/fantasy writer, a musician/judicial advocate, a green entrepreneur/engineer, a graphic designer/limnologist, and a web developer/carpenter/entomologist. And those are just the first few that come to mind.

I don’t know whether my peers and I are indicative of some broader societal trend or whether we’re just unusually indecisive. But I do know that the people I know who are pursuing multiple or blended careers are interesting, passionate, and genuinely excited about what they do.

I want to learn more about how people build satisfying careers that meld disparate interests, and have decided to employ that time-tested writers’ trick: pointing a lens at those around me.

Starting next week you will find on these pages, from time to time, a feature interview with someone whose career intrigues me. We will begin with Emma Bowen, an architectural design instructor who recently started a sustainable baking business.