Finding Your Niche
One of my challenges in having written a weekly blog for more than ten years is that it’s challenging not to repeat myself. It’s one thing to find your niche and occupy it, but it’s quite another to access enough creativity to find a new blog topic after more than 500 straight weeks.
By “Finding Your Niche” I mean that every day we give ourselves an opportunity to discover and act upon our personal desires along with our natural inclinations and talents. For breakfast I prefer a fried egg, one slice of Canadian bacon (only 30 calories), and one slice of toast. (Yes, with butter.) Daveen enjoys a vegan something or other. We each have a different “breakfast” niche. I stick to my preferences and she to hers and in that way, we are both satisfied.
It seems obvious to me that part of living a successful, joy-filled life is to find the niches we are not only best suited to, but that we also enjoy. When we give ourselves permission to pursue an endeavor we enjoy, we are giving ourselves permission to pursue happiness. And the more time we spend at an activity, such as in our employment or chosen field of work, the more important it becomes to enjoy what we are doing.
I was thinking about this yesterday evening, during a Hollywood Bowl performance of Jesus Christ, Superstar. I was bored, which is unusual for me. But one aspect of taking the convenient Hollywood Bowl bus meant that I couldn’t leave until the performance was over. As the encores began, Daveen and I sprinted for the bus, only to find that the first was already filled. While we were inclined to leave as soon as possible, there was an obstacle to occupying our chosen niche and making a timely escape. That sometimes happens in life.
But when you find yourself in the wrong niche, you can readjust. If you are at the Hollywood Bowl simply wait an hour or two and then leave.
I knew a woman who held the same job, a job she hated, for twenty-five years. That seems a bit long to me to wait to find one’s niche, especially when the price paid is to live an unfulfilled life for so many years. But, my paternal grandfather was a piece-work tailor in the New York sweatshops during his entire career. I can only imagine what he might have done had he the opportunity to follow his chosen path. Would he have remained a tailor? Might he have pursued carpentry or music?
So, for those of us with the ability to make free choices, I offer up these words of advice, to myself, and to you. While we all must experience some less than pleasant activities (because they are mandatory or in service to a greater good), if I’m going to be doing something (especially for any length of time), I hope to engage in activities that bring me joy. In short, I hope to find my niche and occupy it.
Like writing this blog.
Alan