Will I Move on from Writing to Helping Others?

There’s a way I could balance both options

Since I was nine, writing is something I always wanted to pursue. Jotting my ideas, thoughts, and emotions was always my escape from dealing with the harsh realities of the world. However, I didn’t want to shut myself away from people, so I looked into assisting others who need help in small but meaningful ways. Today I’m doing a mixture of both, and while both writing and helping others can be a challenge at times, I’m mostly happy to do both. But should I move on from being a professional writer, to use my writing skills in the helping fields?

When I decided to go after my passion in life, writing is what consumed me so much that I forgot about important things with my family in order to stay focused on my dream. I also came to the realization that writing constantly for someone else wasn’t making me as fulfilled as I thought it would. It was my dream after all and something I worked hard for, so why was I feeling so depressed and weary when it came to getting some writing done?

So I decided to cut back on professional article writing to focus on my family and the people who needed me at my day job. I’m a full-time caregiver/direct support professional, wife, and mom in which all take a lot of time, effort, and energy. On top of that, I’m also in college working on getting my Associate’s degree. With juggling multiple things in my life, it’s crucial for self-care, and I do that by journaling at the end of my day. Writing about my feelings helps relieve caregiver burnout and is what keeps me motivated to keep going both with writing and looking after others.

I’d like to become a social worker someday helping those with disabilities, the homeless, and working with nonprofit organizations. I’ve even thought about becoming a counselor to one day help those going through anxiety and depression. Caregiving for my twin sister who has autism, and caring for my husband’s grandmother who passed away last year was one of the most meaningful things that I’ve done, and while it was hard, it also helped me discover another reason why I’m here.

I excel in one on one careers and which allows me to use my writing skills in an impactful way. All the jobs that I’ve done I’ve used writing, and all the careers I wish to pursue will include writing in a confidential manner. Whether writing incident reports, daily logs, documents, progress reports, staff notes, etc, I can use writing to make a great difference in someone else’s life.

I’m still enjoying my hobbies and I write for myself without doing it as a full-time income. While I’ll always have a love-hate relationship with writing, I know I can use my gift to help, inspire, inform, and encourage others in the best way that I know-how. So will I move on from writing, not necessarily? I’ll still write, just for a different cause. Who knows, perhaps I’ll be a writing teacher, a researcher, a grant writer or maybe an editor one day. But if I’m still being a caregiver, social worker, or counselor, that’ll be okay with me too.

Will I Move on from Writing to Helping Others? was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.