For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt pulled in many directions , not out of confusion, but out of love and passion . Love for stories, for words, for languages. Love for music, for notes and the silence in between. Love for having an impact on people, for dreaming of a world where I could do a little bit of everything, and somehow still stay true to who I am.

But the world doesn’t always make space for everything. From a young age, we’re asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” as if we must only be one thing. One title. One path. One career. And for a long time, I tried to fit into that mold. I believed that if I wasn’t focused on a single interest, I’d be seen as unfocused and I’ll lose all passions.

So I tried to choose, I told myself to prioritize one path to be “just” a writer or “just” a musician or “just” a scientist. But the truth is, every time I shut one door, it felt like I was leaving a piece of myself behind. I wasn’t happier or more productive; I was frustrated, half-alive, and missing the parts of me I had put behind.

That’s when I started to realize that maybe the idea of having one true calling isn’t meant for everyone. Maybe “being everything at once is not a burden, but a gift”.

The challenge lies in balance , not in doing it all at once, but in knowing when each part of you needs to breathe. There are seasons when I’m consumed by writing , when the words pour out of me and I live in notebooks and cursors. And there are other seasons when music takes the lead, when I find comfort in keys and chords instead of sentences. And still others, when my mind longs to learn, to translate, to study, to teach, to build…

None of these moments cancel the others, they all make me myself.

And yet, balancing passions requires more than time management. It requires self-compassion. Because there are days when I feel guilty for not doing enough, when I feel like I’m falling behind on one dream while chasing another. But I’ve learned to sit with that discomfort and ask myself: “What do I need right now? What brings me alive in this moment?”

One of the most liberating things I’ve realized is that not every passion has to become a career, not every interest has to be monetized, optimized, or turned into content. Some things like music, journaling, painting, or simply reading under the stars are sacred, they don’t really need an audience, they just need you. And when we allow those things to exist without pressure, they often give more back than we ever expected.

I’ve also stopped believing in the myth of “having it all figured out.” The truth is, we evolve. What we love now may shift, deepen, or bloom into something new later, and that’s beautiful. Life isn’t a straight line, It’s a dance between passion and rest, between certainty and curiosity, between who we are and who we’re becoming.

So if you’re someone who feels like too much, or like you can’t choose just one dream , you’re not lost. The world needs people like you, people who bring depth and diversity into everything they do, don’t let society’s narrow definitions shrink you.

Let yourself be all of it. Be the writer, be the musician, the dreamer, the scientist, the storyteller, the seeker. You were never meant to be one thing you were meant to be whole.

And if I could leave you with just one piece of advice, it would be this: give yourself permission to grow in all directions. You don’t need to have a perfect plan, you don’t need to apologize for your love of many things. The goal isn’t to do it all perfectly the goal is to stay connected to your joy, your purpose, and your truth.

With love

Shay