If you had the chance to live 5 other lives, what you you do in each of them?
This was the question that I came across whilst reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
Dream big and have fun with this thought experiment.
If you’re like me, my other 5 lives are completely different from my current one. Here are my 5 other lives that that I would want to lead:
1. Primary school teacher
2. Fashion designer
3. Ice skater
4. A ballerina
5. Museum curator
Julia asks to look at your list and select one to do this week. Her example was if you put down country singer, can you pick up a guitar? If you dream of being a cowhand, what about some horseback riding?
It gives me comfort to think that I can try and incorporate some of these other lives into my current.
What would you do in your 5 other lives?
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Lingo in Transit 
I like the museum curator option – that sounds like it would be an interesting! Thanks for the inspiration, I need to think about this one.
It would be interesting particularly in a very large museum. All the items that you would come across. Hope you’ll be come up with your 5 other lives.
Honestly? If I had five lives, I would live them out more-or-less the same. Thing is, I find the five lives kind of philosophy, while intriguing, to somewhat undermine the one life that we have right now, as if we don’t have enough time to do everything here on this Earth. Although life truly is short, I am of the belief that we make the most of it that we can; there will always be road-blocks to whatever goals we want to reach, but ultimately, as long as we can live a satisfying one as much as we can, I think we can really be happy. So at least in this one life I have, I intend to pursue all that I want to be: writer, traveler, penguin-lover, athlete, polyglot…all of which I’m currently working to be! 🙂
Yes, I think this exercise was to remind us to fit in our other lives into the current one to maximise our dreams (if that makes any sense!). Our hobbies must be tell tales of our other lives and it’s important to make time for these too.
These are the kind of things one thinks about on a sleepless night, making it even more impossible to sleep 😅 I have followed a completely different career of what I expected whilst growing up with big dreams as a child. I would say though, as said in the previous comment, I try to incorporate elements of the dreams I did not pursue in my routine. In a different life I would probably have studied Arts / Literature, aiming to work in a publishing house or in a museum, perhaps even being a writer or an artist myself. Still, I’m an avid reader and a frequent gallery visitor. I once wanted to be an archaeologist, and also a marine biologist. Fashion designer was what i wanted to be for the longest time, but fashion is still a huge part of me and my life. And finally, a full time traveller journalist, telling stories from people all around the word!
I think many of us still incorporate aspects of our other lives into our lives although I’ve never thought of my hobbies as a link to my other lives until now. It sounds like you’re fitting aspects of your other lives into your current one well!
I’ve had a few careers in my life, so I’ve had the chance to taste a few life journeys. Most interesting was teaching in three different countries. At the end of college, I took an elective just to complete my credits and it was Cultural Anthropology. The professor had lived in Spain with gypsies (as they were called then) and wrote about their culture and lifestyle. Considering my love of travel, I would like to do that, to study and research another indigenous culture.
It must be freeing to have had different journeys and also to gain so many perspectives. It’s something I’ve been thinking more and more about. I hope you will get to do it if it’s what you’re after.