There’s only one day of the year when we’re allowed to put all our eggs in one basket: Easter. For those of us who indulge in Easter Egg Hunts, or perhaps plan them for younger members of the community, the object of the game is to race around the garden finding as many colorful eggs as possible and collect them in a festive basket.
The rest of the year, we’re admonished not to follow the practice of placing all our eggs—a metaphor for hopes, plans, or expectations—in one basket—a metaphor for person, object, or project.
There was a time I probably took that advice too much to heart. In “the business” (of entertainment) I’m known as a “hyphenate”—writer-actor-producer, and to that I could add musician-singer-songwriter and teacher-speaker-seminar leader.
I always found it challenging—but also necessary—to keep up with each of my professional activities, so I balanced songwriting with auditioning, screenwriting with acting, voice performance with producing, seminar leading with teaching. Well-meaning people admonished me to give something up so I could focus. I tried that. The week I decided “no more journalism,” Rolling Stone called to say they’d accepted my pitch for a cover story. The month I decided “no more acting,” I got the lead in Sea Marks, the play I’d wanted to do for several years. When I tried to erect a dam across the flowing river, the Universe said: No.
The logic or “head” information just didn’t seem to fit my reality. Intuition, or “heart” information was offering a different perspective. What if, I wondered, these gifts were actually designed to work together? If these endeavors would one day take flight as birds of a feather, perhaps they would start out as eggs nestled into the same basket?
Each skill set has its own color: dark red for the deeply romantic novel storylines; bright orange for innovative marketing; sky blue for seminars to open possibilities for my readers; vivid yellow for creating audio dramas; soft green for nurturing the soul; bright ocean blue for the Milford-Haven Novels. They all fit together now—all the things I do are integrated into a single mission and a core purpose. It took a long time for me to trust the process, but now my heart is happy that all my eggs are in one basket.
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