My "Thing"

Everyone has something in their life that separates them from everyone else. They have something that they can do better than most people, and this activity, etc. helps to define them. I found my "thing" a couple of years ago, and it has helped me in more ways than I ever thought possible.

Before I get to my personal example, I want to provide some other examples of what I am talking about. My mom is incredibly talented when it comes to sewing, quilting, embroidering, knitting, etc. She can do it all, and she loves producing amazing handmade items--especially for my nieces. My mom is also always learning new skills, and she's not content with being stagnant. It's not uncommon for her to quilt for awhile, then learn something else, and then go back to quilting. Maybe that's where I got my a.d.d from. :)

My dad is a tireless public servant. He has been on the local board of education for many years now, and it energizes him and gives him a great purpose. He has given so much of his time to the school district, and he has been responsible for shaping the district into what it is today. Dad has been retired for a couple of years now, and it's great to see him get so much from the board--especially since he is no longer working.

My brother has become a very accomplished runner. For a person that was never especially athletic growing up, he has become really talented at running. He consistently places near the top of his age group, and he is quite fast. He is actually going to be running in his first marathon in April, and I am really proud of him.

Finally, my sister is a phenomenal artist. She has so much ability, and she like my mother, has produced some beautiful work. She has always been talented at art--even from a very young age. I am in awe of her talent and the ease in which she produces her art, and I would be happy if I had 5% of her ability.

Now this sounds petty, and a little embarrassing, but my thing is...trivia. Yeah, I know that sounds strange. But discovering trivia nights, a couple of years ago, has given me more confidence, and it has actually proven to be quite profitable.

I have always had worthless crap in my head. I remember being good at trivial pursuit at a young age, and I've always been good at remembering thing. However, it was something I mostly did with my family.

A couple of years ago I found a local, weekly trivia night. It was then that I realized, that I guess I knew more about certain things than most other people. I had finally found a way to parlay my useless knowledge into something fun, and like I mentioned before...profitable.

The place that I usually go to has five separate rounds each night, and it is free to play. The winning team for each round receives a $10 gift card to the establishment. This might come off as sounding arrogant, but I know that my team and I will usually win at least one round per night. So at a bare minimum, we will have ten bucks taken off of our tab. I never thought that I was that competitive, but it really bothers me whenever we go 0-5 in a given night.

I usually play with a couple of other friends, but I am the one that supplies 90% of the answers. I don't mind, though, because even though I am competitive, we are ultimately there to have fun and be together.

My proudest trivia moment came when nobody else was able to come and I was by myself. I ended up winning all five rounds that night, and I won $50 in gift cards. :) I didn't really eat or drink anything that night either, so I ended up taking my parents out to dinner with my gift cards. It felt good to be able to do something like that for them.

Unfortunately I don't go to trivia as much as I used to in the past. The people that I usually play with aren't able to come as often anymore. That's ok. I understand that priorities change in life. It's actually good that I don't go every single week anymore, because I was starting to getting burned out on it.

As I mentioned before, needs something in their lives that is their "thing." I really had trouble writing this post, because I didn't want come across as sounding arrogant or conceited. However, I wanted to talk about my hobby. It truly has given me confidence, and it has given me something to be proud of. I'm very grateful for it.