If you’ve spent any amount of time trying to grow a YouTube channel, you’ll know there’s one piece of advice that’s repeated over and over again: find your niche. Pick one topic, become known for it and don’t confuse your audience. It’s sensible advice… unless you’re someone whose curiosity refuses to stay in one lane. In that case, you’re a bit stuffed.
For years I’ve wondered what my “thing” actually is. Looking back, I probably should have realised that curiosity was the common thread all along. One minute I’m talking about ghosts and the supernatural, the next I’m blogging about life in Portugal, then I’m filming cinematic videos (well, trying to make them cinematic lol), taking photographs, making dolls, writing books, learning about AI, sewing a dress or deciding I absolutely must know everything there is to know about some completely random subject. Honestly, I’m exhausting.
I’ve often wondered why I could never just pick one thing and stick with it. I admired people who knew exactly what they wanted to do, while I was over here happily disappearing down yet another rabbit hole. But after spending the last few days really thinking about the direction of my YouTube channel, I finally had one of those lightbulb moments. It’s never actually been about ghosts. Or books. Photography. YouTube. Or creativity. It’s curiosity. Everything I do starts with exactly the same two words: I wonder…
The funny thing is, I think I’ve probably always been like this. Looking back, the clues were there all along.
Take the other morning, for example. I was out in the garden with Jack at about six o’clock when a van pulled up a couple of houses away. A few seconds later… PAM! PAM! Seriously loud. At first I assumed someone had slammed a van door, but then I thought, hang on… that definitely wasn’t a van door. It honestly sounded like gunshots.
Now, this is the Algarve. Things like that simply don’t happen where we live. Just then my lovely neighbour across the road appeared on her terrace looking just as confused as I was before suddenly shouting, “Oh my God… the GNR are there!” Well, that was enough for me. Jack and I made a rather hasty retreat back inside because my imagination had already decided there was a crazed gunman wandering around the urbanisation. (Watching endless crime dramas probably hasn’t helped!)
Once the initial panic wore off, though, my curiosity immediately took over. I needed to know what had happened.
Thankfully, our neighbours had a much better view than we did and kept us updated. A young British couple were arrested and taken away in handcuffs, while their poor young Alsatian-type puppy was led away first, which honestly broke my heart. The riot police were there, then the CSI team, and people with metal detectors searching the garden. Later, my neighbour mentioned she’d seen smoke, so we’re now wondering whether those two loud bangs were actually smoke bombs rather than gunshots.
Whatever happened, it was surreal.
And do you know what fascinated me most? Not the drama itself, but the fact that my brain instantly wanted answers. Who were they? I’d always assumed they were just a friendly couple living a few doors away (our neighbours had thought they were ‘influencers’) What had happened? Why were there metal detectors? What were they looking for? Were there weapons hidden in the garden? Why was there smoke? What happens to the puppy now? I’ve had a quick online search since, expecting there to be something about it. Nothing. Not a single thing. It’s like it never happened, which, if anything, has made me even more curious!
The more I thought about it, the more I realised this isn’t some new personality trait I’ve suddenly developed. Years ago I worked in the publishing industry on newspapers and magazines, and one of my favourite parts of the job was interviewing people. I absolutely loved it. I wanted to know how people ended up where they were, why they made certain decisions, what inspired them and what made them tick. I’d often leave wishing I could have spent another hour talking to them because I’d thought of another twenty questions. Looking back now, it wasn’t journalism I loved so much as getting to satisfy my curiosity.
Then I remembered something else. A friend of mine once told me she has absolutely no interest in learning anything new anymore. She’s perfectly happy with everything she already knows, and while that’s completely fine—we’re all different—I remember sitting there thinking… Really? I genuinely can’t imagine feeling like that.
I’d love to think I’ll still be learning when I’m ninety. Will I ever master everything that interests me? Probably not! Let’s be honest, I barely master anything. And do you know what? I don’t really care. That’s never been the point. I learn because I love learning.
When I turned forty, I decided it would be a brilliant idea to do a 30-day yoga teacher training course. Looking back, I must have been slightly mad! It was physically exhausting and mentally even more so. My poor peri-menopausal brain was trying its best to keep up with anatomy, philosophy, teaching practice and Sanskrit, while the rest of me was wondering whose bright idea this had been.
I absolutely loved it though. I learned so much, pushed myself far more than I ever thought I could and came away with a qualification as a yoga teacher… only to realise I didn’t actually want to teach yoga! Some people would probably think that was a complete waste of time.
Personally, I couldn’t disagree more. Becoming a yoga teacher was never really the point. Learning was. Looking back, I’d do the whole thing again in a heartbeat.
My latest obsession has been doll making. I absolutely love it. It’s creative, challenging and incredibly satisfying. It’s also unbelievably fiddly and has tested my patience more times than I’d care to admit. In fact, I’ve just finished making a very special doll for a very special person, but I can’t tell you anything about it yet because it’s currently somewhere in the postal system and it’s a surprise. I’ll tell you all about it next week. But even that started with curiosity. I simply wondered whether I could make one.
Here’s another confession. Whenever my curiosity gets the better of me and I become interested in a new subject, the first thing I do is buy books. Lots of books. Beautiful books with gorgeous covers that look absolutely perfect on my shelves. Reading them, however… well… that’s another story!
I’ve got a book called The Book of Magic that I bought about twenty years ago. Twenty! Have I read it? Nope. Do I still absolutely love owning it? Yes! It sits there looking beautiful, patiently waiting for Future Suzy to finally decide today’s the day. The thing is, I genuinely believe I will read it eventually. Today just isn’t that day.
I have so many books like that it’s actually quite embarrassing. But every single one started with the same thing… curiosity. Something caught my attention and I just had to know more.
And don’t even get me started on online courses! Whenever my curiosity latches onto a new hobby or skill, I somehow convince myself I need a course to go with it. I’ve bought more than I care to admit because something caught my attention and I desperately wanted to learn more. Have I completed them all? Well… you already know the answer to that, don’t you? Some of them, yes. Others are quietly waiting for the mythical woman known as Future Suzy, who is apparently far more organised than Present Suzy. Honestly, Future Suzy has got a lot to answer for!
Michael will probably laugh if he reads this because he knows it’s true, but whenever we’re driving somewhere new I’m forever saying, “I wonder where that road goes?” or “What do you think’s down there?” I hate the feeling that I might be missing something interesting. Maybe there’s an incredible viewpoint, a tiny hidden village, an old abandoned chapel or just a dead end. I don’t care. IMy curiosity takes over. I always want to know what’s around the next corner, and I suppose that’s how I’ve approached life in general.
So maybe I’ve been asking myself the wrong question all these years. Instead of asking, “What’s my niche?” perhaps I should have been asking, “What makes me curious?” Because that’s where everything begins. Every blog post, every YouTube video, every novel, every photograph and every creative project starts with exactly the same thought: I wonder…
Maybe I’ll never finish every online course I’ve bought. Perhaps I’ll never read every book sitting on my shelves (actually, I can almost guarantee I won’t!). Maybe I’ll never become a true expert in any one thing.
And you know what?
I’m finally okay with that.
I’d much rather spend my life being endlessly fascinated by the world than convince myself I’ve learned everything there is to know. I hope I’m still asking questions when I’m ninety. That I’m still finding new hobbies. I hope I’m still buying books that I’ll probably read in another twenty years. And I hope I’m still wondering what’s around the next corner.
Because I think that’s where the magic is.
Not in knowing all the answers.
But in never losing the desire to ask the questions.
