Career of My Life: SCANNER

All my life I've had a wide variety of interests.  To further complicate matters, I'm one of those uncommon personality types who always gets a different result whenever I take the Myers-Briggs personality test.  I use both my logical and intuitive minds to evaluate choices.  I need time alone as much as I need time with people.  

And all my life I've been told that being a Jack of All Trades would take me nowhere.  Everyone's a specialist today.  There are even specialists in organized religion.  What are patron saints if not specialists?!  

There's gotta be a niche for being a little good at many things.  A few months ago I happened upon Barbara Sher's book, "Refuse to Choose," written about and for those of us who could never bear to limit ourselves to just one career, just one interest.  She calls us "scanners."  

There are different types of scanners as well; I'm still figuring which one I am.  But one common theme running through the stories of all the people profiled in "Refuse to Choose" is a crumpled self-esteem due to being thought of as a ne'er-do-well all their lives -- simply for having many interests.  Reading these choked me up because I can totally relate to feeling misunderstood.  

I worked at one single career for more years than I care to recount, and it's not like I can't focus on one thing.  Yet I've never felt more fulfilled than I've been in the past two years that I've had many different ways of making money.  It's been rough in many ways, but it's what I want to do.  I'm getting through it.  I AM SCANNER, hear me roar!