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Is It Possible To Be Multi-Disiplinary?

Discussion in 'General Support and Advice' started by Sartoris, May 1, 2017.

  1. Sartoris

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    Right now it feels like there are almost too many things I'd like to pursue at the moment, a range of things I want to be (more) involved with but also subjects I'd like to learn about or study further.

    - Traveling more, seeing places, events, etc. I've always been interested in.
    - Being part of some charitable and/or political organisation.
    - Writing more (poetry, non-fiction) and learning more about these.
    - Studying psychology, spirituality, philosophy and having the ability to discuss, write about or read up on these meaningfully.
    - Going back to studying German and eventually French, at least, eventually.
    - Learning more about chess.
    - Pursue filmmaking.
    - Learn basic computer science, for practical reasons.

    By creating this thread, I'm acknowledging the concern for overwhelming myself with too much. Not that I'm currently involved with the bulk of this or even intend to do all these simultaneously.

    Admittedly I'm still directionless in terms of my long-term plans for life or a vocation, but that aside these are all things which interest me to varying degrees. Even if it takes patience and time, I'd like to have some familiarity and capability with them all; regardless if it turns out to be moreso with some than others. But I'm wondering is it unrealistic for a person to be meaningfully engaged with numerous subjects, topics, etc. on a personal level? Everyone seems to specialise in one or two areas of knowledge, rather than being versed in a number of activities/disciplines.

    If it's not impossible, what are some ways of getting started, assuming it's best to gradually focus on a little at a time? Depending on the topic, and in terms of being more pro-active, I've been considering looking for specific forums, perhaps auditing classes, things like that.
     
  2. Najlen

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    I think that your first 5 could all fit together. If you became an author having knowledge about the subjects you mentioned as well as other languages could be very useful. Traveling is good inspiration, or for nonfiction you could travel to find and subjects for biographies, and if you became successful you could contribute to an organization. Aside from that, volunteering either at a charity or for a political organization is something you could do in your spare time, a lot of people do that on weekends. Chess could be a hobby and fit into your life that way. Filmmaking can also be a hobby, and computer science is important for that if you want to edit them yourself. The other things you're talking about studying are also useful in films. I write and direct low budget short films, it's fun and it's a good challenge.

    I think it's totally possible to be involved in that many things, especially since a lot of them are interrelated. I personally am an actor/musician/artist/filmmaker with a strong desire to pursue chemistry and/ or psychology, and I don't intend to stop doing any of those things anytime soon. It probably won't be easy and I definitely think taking it a little bit at a time is a good idea. Start with something easy, like finding people to play chess with or a place where you can take language classes.
     
  3. BostonStranger

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    Absolutely, though maybe not all at once. It depends on how much time you're willing to invest. I suggest you simply try them all out, that always works for me. When I graduated highschool almost six years ago, I had a bunch of things that I wanted to do. I decided to just go for it and now I volunteer, am politically involved, studied a lot of psychology (and became a social worker) and write multiple monthly columns. Sometimes you just have to say: 'F*** it' and go for it. If it's not your thing, you can always quit :slight_smile:
     
  4. BiGuy365

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    I have done most all those things out of desire to learn and grow. However, I usually focused on 1-2 things at a time. Pace yourself. Otherwise you can burn yourself out. A candle burning on both ends burns twice as fast.
     
  5. Sartoris

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    First, thank you all for these responses. :slight_smile: Second, can't believe I misspelled the title... :eusa_doh:

    Najlen: Yes, many of these can be overlapping or assist one another and I'm curious about doing that, eventually. Though just now I've been wondering about learning many of these in depth and applying that knowledge, someway, independently of one another.

    Especially with subjects like psychology, where I don't know how one can pursue that as a non-professional in the way one could with other sciences.

    Regardless, I'm slowly beginning to reflect on these and anything else I forgot to list, trying to determine which ones seem to be bigger priorities or which are easier to take small steps in pursuing (such as playing chess, like you highlighted.) Which will hopefully help a great deal with motivation.

    If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been involved with filmmaking and what was most helpful in getting into it?

    ---------- Post added 2nd May 2017 at 01:20 PM ----------

    BostonStranger: Yeah, I wouldn't even begin imagining trying to pursue all of them simultaneously. I didn't know, however, if I was being unrealistic and would have to give up any prospects of getting involved with certain subjects/activities for the sake of others. :confused:

    I may try to engage with a couple or few different things at once to start with, just being careful not to overwhelm myself.

    Being a social worker and having a background in psychology, do you happen to know whether there are ways of engaging with the subject, meaningfully, as a non-professional? Beyond simply studying and reading up on it, that is.

    BiGuy: I do want to emphasize at this point that regardless of the long-ish list, I wasn't going to go at everything at once (Haha.) Just a number of things I've been interested in for a long time which I haven't gotten into or as much as I would've liked in the past.

    When you have or are focusing on more than one thing at a time, what sort of techniques have you used to stay engaged and process everything being learned?
     
    #5 Sartoris, May 2, 2017
    Last edited: May 2, 2017
  6. BostonStranger

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    Well there are many fields of psychology that apply to different activities, e.g. developmental psychology in a day care and social- and group psychology in a community/rec center. But to actually practise psychology, you have to be a licensed psychologist (in the Netherlands at least).

    If you want to meaningfully engage with the subject, I recommend you read up on different fields of psychology to find out which interest you the most and then seeing if there's volunteer work that applies to it.

    If I were you I'd start with basic psychology and then move on to developmental psychology, social psychology and group psychology (perhaps even basic psychiatry if you're interested in the medical side). Those cover most of human behaviour and thinking.

    Fair bit of warning though, you will learn a lot about yourself and it can be a little too much to take in at once, so pace yourself. Quite a few social work students drop out because of that.