Back in high school, when I was riddled with acne and self-doubt, I learned a vocabulary term in my A.P. European History class that's come to completely influence the way I look at school and my future career. It was the Italian Renaissance Unit and everyone was excited to learn about this bit. After all, this was the unit with those artists that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were named after. Besides art, other aspects of society were also thriving in Europe. This included literature, music, science, craft, politics, you name it. There was so much to do and so much to learn. Then, my teacher explained to us that there were people who literally did this for a living; they studied multiple disciplines and aimed to become great in every field.
These people were called "renaissance men."
Aside from the patriarchal wording, the concept is really nice. It's a lifestyle where you get to explore your passions and really commit to mastering them. It's all about becoming a well-rounded person. Ever since learning about these types of people, I've wanted to be one.
As I get older, I realize that our world is set up to make becoming a renaissance man really difficult. To be successful in America, you have to specialize in a field and prove your worth in our capitalistic society by being able to produce as much contribution (whether it be a product, service or intellectual property, like research) as you can within your eight-hour shift. Everything you study outside of your chosen field is dubbed a "hobby" and is automatically considered irrelevant by hiring managers.
As I wrap up my junior year in college, I'm beginning to dread the idea of trying to do one thing "really well" for the rest of my life. How can people not pull their own hair out when they realize that merely sticking to one thing is likely for most people? I think about all of the work I put into my passions. I think about how my "hobbies" are swept under the rug on my resume just because they aren't skills I learned directly through an internship. I hate to think that every day, people are being pushed away from being able to pursue the things they love as a means for making a living, even if it would just be supplemental to a "main" profession.
That's not to say that successful renaissance men don't exist. These are the marketing geniuses that go home to write their very first books, the professors that perform with their band at the local lounge every Wednesday night or the accountants that craft products for their Etsy shops on the weekend. I just want to be more like these people and I absolutely do not want to be relegated to a single profession for the rest of my life. Of course, I'm at the mercy of chance and circumstance, but I'm also at the helm of my own life.
I want to be a freelance graphic designer, I want to publish a book, I want to teach martial arts, I want to be a technical writing consultant, I want to perform music with a band of friends and so much more. Most importantly, I want to be paid for all of it. I want these things to be what I make a living off of so that I don't have to drag these interests back down to "hobby" status where I have to come home from work to do these things. I just want to be me, not what society wants me to be so that it can further the economy. Is that too much to ask?
