You start with a gift. Maybe you know it first as a deep yearning. School may train it and experience molds it, but eventually what you've got is what you started out with - your gift. What you do with it or choose not to do, designs your life, I've learned.
I am most interested in that potential and ability, innate and often honed in the world. Expressing this gift (and this can be several abilities) is what drives us forward.