Being "well-rounded" is a curse

This is somewhat inspired by Scrabble Lover's comment a few posts back, and fueled by recent deliberations about what I want my future to be like.

You hear all through high school that it's good to be well-rounded. Well, surprise, I actually listened and now I desire to be well-rounded. What does this mean for me? It means I want to be athletic (or play sports, and be good at at least one), it means I want to hone some musical skill (for me, I hope to rekindle my dormant potential for trombone), have reasonable social skills, be good enough at Halo to beat Andy, be well organized, be well read, be politically savvy, be articulate, be creative in some way (either writing, visual arts, or both), be an OK breakdancer, be a reasonable martial artist, be flexible enough to do a split, be able to do front and back handsprings, be a decent ballroom dancer, be an epicure and a decent chef, understand wines and other drinks, properly learn my mother tongue... you get the picture. This is only a short list of the things I want to be reasonably good at.

I realized last night at cardio tai box class that I just don't have time for all of this. I mean, when would I have time to do all this? I don't even have time right now to take my martial arts classes AND go to my gym. Plus, I have to watch my special TV shows like Enterprise, Top Model, and Alias. This becomes even a bigger issue when you consider pursuing a career.

I don't think there's any career that you can pursue that will give you enough time to do all the things you want to do. If I wanted to be a doctor, I would spend all my time at the hospital. If I wanted to be a lawyer, I'd spend all my time at the firm. If I wanted to be a director, I'd spend all my time working on my films. Any real career will be something like 12+ hour workdays. I can't think of any career that I would want to do that would allow me time to pursue hobbies, save for one or two very focused ones. Unless, I were to a) get really filthy rich and just not work (but usually hard work is what leads to wealth - you don't really see Trump painting, he spends all his time doing business, even when he's not doing business) or b) take a 9-5 job with no real responsibility, some sort of mindless work.

Now, I totally respect people who either choose to or have to take such jobs. But I would go crazy. I also can't deny that I would feel like the work was a little demeaning, despite how much I'd tell myself that it was a choice.

I just want it all. I probably can't have it all - I just hope I don't die disappointed.