Living life as a creative hummingbird can be quite the adventure if you let it. Guided by inspiration, your journey becomes a work of art in itself as you follow your creative muse down different paths.

Contrary to popular belief, creative hummingbirds technically aren’t jack of all trades, master of none. Usually, there’s one skill you’ve developed over the years as your foundation. Maybe it’s writing, maybe it’s drawing, maybe it’s launching businesses. Whatever the foundation, you use it as a launchpad to try on different disciplines and bring back all of your new perspective to your home base.

Of course, the more you learn and grow, that home base could even change in time. Such is the life of a creative hummingbird—it’s anything but linear. Here’s how to embrace it:

1. Let go of the guilt.

Society makes us feel like quitters if we wander off our initial path. We’re taught to stick with it no matter what. But I’m sure all of us have quit something we loved to do at some point. Before I got into music, I was all about the swim team. Maybe you used to dance competitively and then fell in love with science or went from painting to designing furniture. It’s okay to explore and it’s okay to move on. With 8 billion people in the world today, it would be pretty boring if we all stayed in the same creative box we started off with.

2. Learn to listen to and trust your inner voice.

Deep down, you know exactly what you want. But in the busyness of life, it takes discipline to take a little time to be with yourself and really listen. My first life coach put it to me this way: When making a decision, does it feel heavy or does it feel light? Whatever decision I’m making, whether it’s to take a new class or deciding on a new creative project, I get quiet and pay attention to how I feel. The path reveals itself.

3. Celebrate the journey rather than the destination.

It’s so easy for a hummingbird to look back on their life and say, “Oh, if I had stayed on that path I could have achieved X by now.” But something called you off of that path, and if it was really meant for you, you would have stayed on it.

We can’t control our creativity and we can’t control the results of what we create. All we can do is feel inspiration and either flow with it or resist it. Rather than become fixated on results and achievement, just be present and enjoy the rid

4. Understand the unique value you bring.

Hawks need hummingbirds just as much as hummingbirds need hawks. Hummingbirds breathe new life into whatever the hawk is working on. They help hawks see things in new ways or draw connections the hawk wouldn’t have seen being focused on the crucial details of a project.

5. It’s okay if you try a new thing and decide it’s not right for you.

I tried aerial yoga once and had such high hopes for it! (pun intended) And while I enjoyed the class, I didn’t feel the spark I needed to keep going. Could I have forced myself to stick with it for 6 months? I guess I could have, but my heart wasn’t in it. This world is chock full of so many wonderful things but it would be impossible for one person to do them all. Keep what sparks your heart and leave the rest.

6. Know that you will have hawkish periods again.

Even hummingbirds have periods of being a hawk. Just because you explore different mediums doesn’t mean once you find one you love, you won’t pursue it at the highest level. Look at Oprah. She may not be doing every single discipline all at once, but I bet when she’s working on a film she’s all in on acting.

7. Own your creative hummingbird ways.

Sure, someone can go to college and get a degree in a certain discipline, but with your unique set of skills and experiences, there is absolutely no one on the planet who can bring exactly what you bring, even with the same degree. Be proud of the unique way in which your creativity manifests and own it. I believe we’ve all been sent here for a reason and when we trust our instincts to explore, we make it possible to achieve the highest possibilities for our lives. The world needs what only you can bring.

Do you identify as a creative hummingbird? Leave a comment about how your creative journey has unfolded so far.