Kids are often known for their tendency to move from one interest to another quickly and without much warning. At a very young age, this might look like a kid who dumped a pile of legos out only to five minutes later be much more interested in the cool bucket of cars on the shelf.

As the kid gets older, this might turn into their interests in sports and extracurricular activities. they say they want to play guitar and become a professional. Two months later they say their one true passion is drawing. Another three months go by and they ask you if you’ll pay for them to play in a basketball league.

It gets tiring following along with all of the changes and interests kids have. It’s also hard to know how to support them in their interests while also knowing that they’ll probably be completely different in less than a year.

That’s a huge topic that perhaps I’ll write about another time.

What’s more interesting, and relevant, to me, is the way this kind of behavior looks in adults.

For many years, up until the early 2000s, it was much more expected for people to go and work the same job for the rest of their life. By expected, I don’t mean 90% of people did it, I just meant that it was a more coveted thing. To find something you love and dedicate the rest of your life to it.

The next generations have been changing this kind of attitude rapidly.

A generation of people who want to travel. People who even if they find something they love very rarely stay in it for more than 4 years maximum. A generation of people who covet happiness, not in one thing, but happiness in variety.

And I don’t generalize this generation while excluding myself. I feel this desire deep in my bones. A desire to travel, a desire to put myself in new situations and explore all of the possibilities life has to offer.

It’s not a bad thing — or I should say, it’s not ALWAYS a bad thing. You can idolize traveling and variety and become addicted to it just like anything else, but a desire to explore and seek out the new is not a bad thing in itself. What it comes down to is if you’re really searching for something.

We often make our minds believe that once we move somewhere, or take our dream job, or make new friends that we’re going to be content and happy. But if you’re idolizing the newness of life, you will grow tired of all of these things, just like you did in the last place you were in. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the most beautiful city in the world working the best job with the best friends, if your one desire is adventure and newness, you will grow to dislike even a perfect situation.

For myself, I have noticed the desire for newness even in my own life and interests. I’ve recently been having regrets about not getting involved more with music. I have a deep love for music. Both creating and performing it. I love the power that it has over emotions and I’m especially growing to love the way it affects emotions with video. Not particularly new since I’ve been into soundtracks since I was young.

I’ve been craving a desire to start making music again and getting involved somewhere locally to play.

Part of me says, “okay, well then just do it if you’re going to say you want to.” But I also understand and realize that I have a lot of interests and ideas that are going through my head right now. So many thoughts of what I could do for the future.

I have to be realistic and understand what my goals actually are. Is being a music star and composer really my goal and desire? Is even playing in coffee shops every weekend a goal or desire?

What do I really want when I’m desiring these things?

Everything goes deeper than we think. Everything comes from a feeling of wanting something. Whether that be acceptance, love, respect, power, etc.

All of those can probably even be boiled down smaller into one thing, but I’ll let you decide that for yourself.

Once we figure out what it is that we want out of what we’re desiring, we can start to get a better feel for why and if what we think we’re interested in is actually a good option to go after.

Is what you want a good thing? Is the way we plan to get it the best way to get there?

Assess and decide, and throw some heart along the way.