Hi everyone and Happy New Year 2023!! May this new year be kind and fruitful for all of us. I am back this year, better than ever. I will start this article by sharing lots of great news. Then, I will talk about purpose and talents. So buckle up and let’s get into it.
I don’t know if anyone has noticed, Karo’s little corner now has it’s own domain name. The blog is no longer karoslittlecorner.worpress.com but karoslittlecorner.com, which is a big step for me as a blogger. Secondly, a bit further down you will see my new logo. I wanted something simple, that holds a lot of meanings, and that also represents me.
In this logo there are 4 elements : a sunflower, a beautiful handwriting (calligraphy style), and a pen with a half infinity sign underneath.
Sunflower: This flower represents my brand. My mom made me realize that a lot of people recognize my webpage by the picture of the sunflowers I had in my previous theme. Sunflowers are a sign of joy and positivity. I am someone who is always joyous and who radiates happiness wherever she goes. There couldn’t be a more accurate symbol than this one ;
The handwriting and the pen : I love to write and people close to me know better than to leave a pen in my hand (loll). I’ll write on every thing. I also have heard multiple times that I have a beautiful handwriting too, so… ;
The half infinity sign : It represents the countless ideas that I have in my head when I am writing on the blog. My brain has no limitations and like Sukant Ratnakar said “Our brains are the only thing in the universe that can work in infinite dimensions“.
Lastly, the design on the blog has also changed (it’ still a work in progress), and the blog is now available in 6 different languages, just click on your favorite one. Now let’s get into today’s article.
Recently, I was browsing on Pinterest, and I came across an image. It was a drawing, and it immediately caught my attention. I am not an artist (I don’t do drawings or paintings), but I always wanted to be one. I used to try over and over but I was never satisfied with my drawings and always came to the conclusion that this was not my talent. However, that day, I decided to try and recreate the drawing. In less than an hour I completed it, and I was in awe of the results. It made me realize how I rediscovered a long-lost talent, and that I could actually become an artist if I wanted to. Below, the inspiration (from Pinterest, not sure who the artist is), and my version.
I remember in high school, I had a friend in my group that would always complain that we all have at least one talent, and that she didn’t have any. I used to wonder if it was possible for someone to be talentless. But when I think about how in the Bible they talk a lot about talents and gifts, I came to the conclusion that we all have at least one or several talents hidden inside of us that are just waiting to be discovered. “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well” Rm 12:6. I believe that talents don’t magically reveal themselves, but we ought to look for them in our everyday lives.
Some people often refer to talent as the ability to know how to sing, dance, draw, play an instrument… Talent is way more than that. There are so many variations of talents that we don’t even know about. I remember seeing a man make a Kobe Bryant portrait out of rubik’s cubes. While looking at the video I was mesmerized, and I could not help but wonder how someone discovered they had that talent. Did he just wake up one day and was like “Let me make art while using rubik’s cube” and just succeeded ? This made me realize that the amount of different talents that exists around the world is unmeasurable. Some talents are yet to be discovered. They just need that one person to try and lead the way for others.
Nowadays, technology and internet are enabling us to be more creative, specially the younger ones. When you look at some of the influencers and content creators’ pages, you realize how those people can turn an idea into something amazing. In my opinion, that is one hell of a talent. If, like my friend you feel like you were born without a talent and there is nothing you can do well, I’ll share below a few tips on how you can discover your hidden talents and find your purpose.
– Believe that you can. No one can accomplish anything in this life if they don’t believe in their capabilities. Your self belief will drive your motivation. It’s what is going to make you try and try until you reach your goal.
– Identify one thing you are good at. What is one thing you are good at? How do you feel when you are doing that specific thing? Does it bring you joy? Does it feel like that is something that you do better than most people?
– Ask people around you. Sometimes we do not realize the gift that we have, but people around us do. Ask your close ones what is one thing they think you are good at, things you do effortlessly or just anything you do better than most people. That will give you an idea of where you can look for your talent. Use their perspective and look into those qualities. Your family can also be a good source of insights too. Your parents and siblings know what you loved to do as a child and that you probably stopped doing over time. This can help you discover a long lost talent.
– Step out of your comfort zone. When you are in your comfort zone, you only want to do things that are familiar to you, you don’t engage in anything new, and it can make you miss great opportunities to find your talents. Try new things, expand your horizons, don’t limit yourself!
– Experience some talents that you’d love to have. Like I said in the beginning, I always wanted to know how to draw. I thought I could never do it, because in my mind I was never good enough, but I tried anyways. If there’s something you’ve always wanted to do go try it now, what’s the worse that could happen? Plus nowadays with the help of YouTube and Pinterest, we can basically learn everything we want to for free, as long as we have our materials.
– Find your talent in others. “Reaching out and seeing talent in others will open up opportunities and connections while helping you define your own.” Laila Ali Khan. Sometimes all we need is a little bit of inspiration. Look around you, what are your friends doing? What are their talents? Is there one in particular that caught your attention? What is it? If you see something that you would also want to be good at, use it to your advantage. Ask your friend to help you, and if it doesn’t work out for you, keep looking for another talent but don’t ever give up.
– Take a personality or a career quiz. Those quizzes can really help to guide you in the right direction sometimes. There are thousands of free personality tests online. They can help you discover your strengths and how you can turn them into talents.
– Identify previous successes. Have you received an award or any type of recognition in the past for something that you did? Personally that is how I discovered my calling for blogging (writing in general). When I was a junior in High School, my principal at the time Sr Jeanine (bless her), decided to send me to a writing contest to represent the school. I had no history of writing poems, and I had no idea why she chose me. I had a few days to submit the text, and let me tell you the pressure was high. It was a national contest and lots of schools in the country were also participating. I remember how much I cried when I was trying to write that text. Stayed up all night with my brother, and kept complaining about the fact that I was the chosen one. Ultimately, I won that contest and my poem was the best one in the country. This previous success is one of the reasons why I am a blogger today. That could be your case too.
– Take notes of what people usually compliment you for. There are things that we do that people really appreciate, and compliment us for. For example, I get a lot of compliments when I bake something, whether it’s cakes, cupcakes etc… I never took any cooking/baking classes. I make almost everything from scratch. Those compliments made me realize that I have a gift, and that’s why now, I am practicing more and working to be better, to use this to my advantage, and to serve others.
– Don’t stay focused on tangible talents. Like I said in the beginning, when we talk about talents, we mostly focus on things we can show to other people, things that are tangible. Some people have gifts that are not tangible. I have a friend, she is really good at giving advices, no matter the situation, no matter what you are going through she’s the person who always know what to say. For me, that is a talent. She is not a psy, it is not something she studied but she is really good at it. Look deeper, talent is not always what is at the surface. You may not know how to paint, sing, play an instrument but you can do other amazing things.
Now that you have identified your talent, you can’t keep it to yourself. Talents are meant to be shown, and to be used. If I had a dollar for every time someone pushed me to show my talents to the world, I would be rich by now. My mom is the biggest example, she always encourages me and my brother to make videos of us playing the guitar to post on YouTube, she is also encouraging me to write and publish my first book. We all need someone like this in our lives. Someone to push us out of our comfort zone, someone who believes in us, and is always there to support us. You will find your purpose by combining your talent and your will power to be better every day.
Before I finish, I want to give a big shout out to some people who have made this migration a success. First is my brother Gerry, then my friend Jonathan who gave me the idea, and also did the entire migration so I wouldn’t lose my previous articles, and lastly my friend Audrey who helped me design my logo. Lord knows how much I made them suffer during these past weeks with my texts and calls. I really don’t know how to thank you guys! 
That is all I have for today guys. I hope this first article for the new year will be the push you needed to start using/searching for your talent. This is your year, make it the best of your life! I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please support me by sharing my blog with a friend and help me grow my audience. Until we meet again, stay safe and be blessed…always!