Writing For Joy Again

 

 

Hi there, 

If this is the first time we've "met", welcome. I'm thrilled you're here, taking a moment out of your precious day, to read what little 'ol me has to say. And if we've met before, in this big online world or perhaps even in person, I'm honoured you have stuck around long enough with me to be reading these words. 

As you might know, this isn't my first attempt at blogging. I launched my first blog in 2014. It was called "Project Healthy Happy Me" and I enjoyed writing about living a healthy, happy and purposeful life. Back then, I was practising as a life coach and drawing upon my background in psychology and health to support clients with their big dreams. This was a fun chapter of my career. I won awards (including the inaugural Beautiful You Coaching Academy's International Coach of the Year 2014-16), wrote prolifically on my own site and others' platforms, and became fully booked out with a 6 month plus waiting list.

Before I knew it, I was swept away in the world of online business and entrepreneurship. Life coaches and other helping professionals started to reach out about business coaching. My writing and website evolved to address this audience and to share what had worked for me. And I was thrilled to co-run the Gentle Business Mastermind with my dear friends Nicola Newman and Amanda Rootsey.

Alongside my business and blogging, I was also studying a Master of Human Rights and a range of social justice courses. I started to integrate these learnings into my writing and work, and later launched the Feminist Coach Academy (since retired) alongside business partner Cameron Airen and an incredible faculty. By this stage, my writing was very much focused on how helping professionals could integrate human rights, social justice and inclusive feminisms into their life, work and client practice. I even wrote my Master's dissertation on the topic.

But behind the scenes, the life curveballs and qualifying events were coming from every direction. And suddenly without warning (well, it seemed like there was no warning at the time, but looking back with hindsight, there were plenty!), I lost my spark. In fact, I completely burnt out. With nothing left to give, my only choice was to step away from everything. To focus on taking care of myself and my family.

And then more life curveballs and qualifying events came along...

Sidenote: Curious about what the life curveballs and qualifying events were? Some are too private to share (or are part of a story that involves other people whose privacy I wish to respect). And there were so many, too many events/curveballs to fit in this post. But I will share some, I'm sure, on this blog over the coming months. 

I'm just now coming out the other end of a period of lots of instability and big change. I'm feeling sturdy on my feet again. And the more grounded I feel within myself and my life, the more I've been thinking about, and being pulled toward, writing again. 

When I was a child, I would think up stories in my head and dream of being an author. On road trips in the car, I would visualise these stories and how they might look on the page. In my youth, I started writing novels, songs and soapy scripts - but I didn't have the confidence to complete or share them. Becoming a writer seemed like a lofty, impossible dream.

When I first started blogging, the act of creative expression brought me so much joy. I still dreamt of writing a book someday, but got swept away in the everyday grind of running a business. Not only did I not have time to write for joy, but even writing for work began to feel like a chore. 

Recently, after hearing so much praise from Nicola about Fiona Ferris' Create Your Dream Life As A Successful Author eCourse, I decided to sign up and take a tentative step toward reigniting the possibility of that old dream again. 

As I read and listen to the course content, I can feel the spark coming back. That old dream might still feel a long way off, but it now feels possible. Maybe someday I really can fully embrace my shy, introverted, Autistic, homebody of a self and write away quietly at home, making a living from selling books? 

But what I currently feel pulled toward most, is to simply start writing again. And to write for joy. To not worry about what others think, to not think about what is smart/strategic to write about (in terms of selling a product or service), to not stress about what book I should start writing, or get stuck on the idea of whether I should open my coaching books again. To let all that go, and just enjoy writing again.

And that's why I'm here, on this new blog, rambling away to you now. If you got this far, you're a star (ohh that rhymes) and I hope you'll stick around. I'm going to try posting here regularly with blogs, poems, and whatever comes to heart. I hope my spark reigniting, and the joy I hope to express in writing again, will spark a little something in you too.

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Let's see how this next chapter of the story unfolds. I hope you'll stick around and be part of it.

[Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash]