One of the most important questions that we can ask ourselves is: “Am I doing the work that I was born to do?” If the answer is “yes,” then you are way ahead of the game, and you have probably had some level of success in doing what you do. But, if your answer is “no,” then my question for you is: “Why not?”
I knew from the time that I was about 12-years-old that I wanted to write. Scratch that. I knew from the time that I was about 12-years-old that I was a writer. I don’t think that I ever verbalized it; I just did it. I started my life-long love affair with paper and pens at a much earlier age, and collected them in a way that most young girls collected Barbies.
Throughout my childhood and teen-age years, I was always writing. I filled notebook after notebook with my thoughts, details of my day and my life, my poems, song lyrics…you name it! I loved the feeling of the pen hitting the paper. When you run your fingers across the words on the page, you can actually feel the emotion of the words. There is no way to replicate that experience on a computer, and so in recent years, I have returned to my analog roots.
My inventory of notebooks and fountain pens is more than a collection. They are part of my obsession with the art of writing, and the tools that nourish my creativity. They are the canvases and paintbrushes that I use to capture the details of my life’s work.
In the early years of my real estate and relocation career, I kept writing, but I allowed it to take a backseat while I focused on the things that earned money. Real money! Although I always incorporated writing into every job that I ever had, I was never able to truly give it the attention that it deserved. I felt like something big was missing, and it was.
Then, I heard the voice of the 12-year-old me yelling in my head. “Hello…remember me?”
So, that night, I started writing a blog. The year was 2009, and I launched a blog that I called “Relo Blogo.” That soon was replaced by my Houston Relocation Blog, which enjoyed huge success and readership within the global mobility world.
Not long after, I took a meeting with the Houston Chronicle, and we began preliminary discussions around a weekly column that I would write for them about Houston relocation. My “On the Move,” column was officially launched in 2013. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Trust me though, I am not done there. Real estate and relocation are not at all the only things that I like to write about. I have several book ideas that I am currently developing, which include non-fiction, poetry, and a children’s series.
So, here’s my takeaway for you…
I listened to the voice in my head, and started doing the work that I know I was born to do. When we were kids, we didn’t worry about things like earning money. We just had a raw passion and enthusiasm for the things that we loved to do. That love was pure and untouched by the “evils” of the outside world.
So, I will ask you again. “Are you doing the work that you were born to do?”
I would love to hear from you!