(not the TV show – that’s Andy Griffith in the Twilight Zone, and I never cared for either of those shows)

Mom was ordering something or other from Amazon last week, scheduled it to arrive Saturday, and it did, and she called me in to the living room when she opened the box. She held out a book and told me when she was ordering, she noticed this book, and thought of me.

The paint-splattered cover was interesting, appealing to my color-fascination and synaethesia, but the subtitle was what really grabbed my attention. The Renaissance Soul: LIFE DESIGN for PEOPLE with TOO MANY PASSIONS to PICK JUST ONE

Yeah, that sounds like me. I started reading, and I hadn’t gotten more than three pages in before I was practically bouncing with excitement. This is me! She describes me, and the first example on page 3 is JUST LIKE ME. I’m not the only one! I’m not somehow defective, I’m just one of the thousands (millions? billions?) of Renaissance Souls who can’t be content with just one focused career. (Enor, if you’re reading here, your parents might also be Renaissance Souls – it sounds like a good fit, based on some of the things you’ve told me before.)

I’m halfway through the book now (yes, having just got it yesterday – what, you’re surprised?) and I’ve been amazed at how many places she describes me exactly. The back jacket lists her website, so I rushed over there to see if I could find a forum or group or some method of talking with others like me, and there’s a link to a YahooGroup. Of course I promptly joined, though I always hate the character limits in the “tell the moderator why you want in” text box. You’ll have noticed by now that I tend to be rather verbose in online text-based media. :: shrug :: So I like the English language; is there a problem with that?

I’ve done a few of the exercises in the book, though not all of the ones I’ve read to this point, and I’m not sure what it says about me that when I listed my myriad interests, I turned it into an outline. I never outline my reports or articles or fiction (it gets in the way – I always wrote my papers first and derived the outline from the finished paper), but when making lists, I outline them. At least it’ll come in handy for revamping my About Me page

I don’t think I can truly express the joy and relief I’m feeling as I read this book (and considering my facility with words, that’s saying something). Not only does she understand me, she has advice about how to deal with the chaos my effervescent nature brings to my efforts to live in a world that requires money. I got an email last week from Nia, telling me how she wishes she were as carefree and confident as she sees in my having been in AL and SC and CA and NJ at various times and with various jobs. I was a bit startled, actually, because it wasn’t so much confidence as the fact that fear of new places is much lower in my personal spectrum than fear of being trapped (a key feature of Renaissance Souls, actually). I guess it’s all about how you look at it, and this book is giving me new ways to see myself and turn my weaknesses into strengths.

If you think you might be like me, or if you want to more fully understand me, buy this book! (Hardcover or Kindle)