I was up at the radio station giving a friend a tour of the place this weekend, when something needed attending to. Just a simple glitch that needed fixing, and it was an easy thing for me to do.
A little while later, she said it was nice to see me in my element. It kind of took me a minute to figure out just what she meant by that, and when I did, I had to smile.
How many of us know what our “element” is? You know that thing that we do that is second nature to us, and feels like an extension of ourselves.
I can’t tell you how interesting I found that my element was not in fact playing my guitar, but what I do for a living.
Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do, it’s the perfect blend of a lot of what feels like playing around and a little of what feels like work. I swear I’m not sucking up to Rex. (OK, maybe a little!)
That being said, it was an eye opener about where I am in my life. (I almost wrote it blew my hair back, but you and I both know that hasn’t happened in a VERY long time!) I am at a point in my life where I am happy with what I do, with the way things are in my life, and the prospects I have for my future.
I searched for a long time before I found this part of me. Just under 30 years in fact. I tried my hand at LOTS of different vocations before radio took hold of me and made me realize that fun and work can coexist.
This is just my particular brand though. I know many people in sales who are terrified of speaking on the radio and would find my job torture, as I would theirs.
If you haven’t found that niche that you fit neatly into, it is out there, and might be disguising itself as work or something you’d never even think to consider.
There was a time I was vehemently opposed to going into radio. It was what my dad did (still is) and I didn’t want to go into what I described as the “Family Biz”. After trying my hand at restaurant management for the better part of a decade, and hating most of it, I decided to bite the bullet and go to night school to see if I liked it.
And it lit me up like nothing had previously.
So take a chance, try out that one thing you’ve always secretly wanted to try. Take guitar lessons, learn to sew, ask a friend to teach you about cars, but find your element. It might surprise you with what it is.
Mine did.
Ben Cox is the host of “Ben Cox in the Morning” weekday mornings from 6 to 9 on KQBZ, 96.9 FM in Brownwood Texas. He is the in-stadium voice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets football team and is also a mobile DJ for weddings, parties and the like. He can be contacted via this website.
The thoughts and comments reflected in this column are those of the writer alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Wendlee Broadcasting, or its affiliates.