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Have you ever been asked, ‘what’s your special talent?’

Or maybe no one has asked you, but after seeing your mates getting perfect results on assignments, playing a perfect cover on the guitar, or carving up the football field; you’ve started asking yourself that question.

What’s my talent?

First things first – what really is a talent?

In short – a talent is a natural ability or skill for something.

It’s being able to sing in key without any (or much) training. It’s coming first in the 100m sprint without much of a challenge or training.

But for some of us, working out what our talent is is hard. It’s a big mystery.

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Having a talent is great. Putting pressure on yourself to have (or find) your talent isn’t so great.

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What’s more important than having or finding talent is finding your different: that thing you’re passionate about that makes both your brain and your heart happy.

Best part is – you don’t have to be the best or ‘most talented’ at it. It’s just gotta be the thing that gives you life. Once you find it, keep doing it.

So if that’s singing—even if you’re no Adele—if it makes you happy, keep it up!

And maybe your different is—well—a little ‘different’ and it feels useless or pointless to everyone else? Your different isn’t about talent, or being successful (see our definition of success) or how it can serve people around you. It’s probably not even about a future path. It’s about energising you, giving you hope and a sense of achievement, and all the positive vibes that you can then lean on to help you get through the tough stuff.

Your different might not even be something that you can become ‘talented’ at (and it doesn’t need to be), it could be an interest or something pretty mundane that gives you a boost. For example, you might love filing your books in alphabetical, chronological order, or pruning a bonsai. You do you, and lean into that positivity.

If the ‘talent search’ is getting you down and you need to talk it out, try speaking with your Guidance Officer at your school or reaching out to the team at Kids Helpline.

Remember!

Having a talent is cool, but finding your different is way more fun!