Having spent the past 20 years not working I have sometimes felt like a nobody. I reckon 90% of my friends have no clue what I did for a living before becoming a full time Mum. When you meet people the first thing they say is “What do you do?” When you say I’m a housewife, you see the lights go out and you are no longer a person anymore. But when I posed this question to a friend she asked “But does a job define you?” Which made me think, are we more than our professions or does our profession prove what kind of person you are?
Just to give you a little bit of background, I worked as a Project Secretary, a Sales Co-ordinator, a Document Controller, a Secretary to the MD and in a factory but gave everything up to have my son. When he got to the age of seven I thought about going back to work but child number two came along, quite unexpectedly and boy did I know she arrived. With her came chronic Acid Reflux and Reflex Anoxic Seizures, followed by Dyslexia and Autism. So the past 13 years have been a bit of a rollercoaster and I have not felt that I could continue a career. I haven’t sat idle though and during that time I have volunteered as Chair of a GP surgery PPG, Secretary for a SNAP and just recently became a Trustee/Treasurer for a local community hub. There again lies the problem, when you say you volunteer people look at you all sympathetic *** and then move on. Much the same is exhibited when you tell people you’re a writer, few take you seriously, they think it’s just a hobby, well all I’ll say it’s one very big hobby club.
The one thing about working is the social side, I miss all the nights out and being part of things. The thing about being a writer is it can be quite lonely most of the time. Thankfully I am part of a writing group and we have started having social gatherings now we are all double jabbed and out of lockdown.
Anyone out their writing, then well done and don’t give up, but most importantly what ever you are doing you are important, you are what makes the world go round. But above all of that do what makes you happy.
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
Tina’s writing 