eemusings did an awesome post called when writing is in the blood. She always knew she wanted to be a writer, and it was just in her blood so to speak, so blogging is just the natural extension of that.
I think that’s amazing, knowing your passion so early on and at such a young age. It’s incredible to me when people just know.
Me, it’s the opposite.
Frankly, I never wanted to become a writer.
Nor did I ever want to touch numbers for a living or for fun (Hah! Look how well that turned out!)
HOW DID I END UP AS A WRITER?!
I loved English in school, and I loved to read. That’s about it, for ever wanting to be a writer or to do an epic novel that would change the world.
I think I might have tried my hand at writing a book ONCE when I was 7, but only to rewrite my own life.
I added in cool things like that the heroine had this awesome personal device assistant (PDA) that could do anything like organize her life, and this heroine also had the most amazing wardrobe that could change at will, not to mention the powers of being able to wish any food or candy into existence 😉
Luckily, this magical dream has come true with my iPod Touch and using the paid AwesomeNotes app.
As for the wardrobe, I just layer and add accessories now 😛 For the food.. well, here’s to hoping in 15 years that’ll come true.
I kind of fell into blogging around the end of 2006, muddled around for 3 years before finding my voice around the start of 2010. This all started as, and still is a hobby that I find a lot of pleasure in doing. I don’t want to go “pro” and quit my job to become a full-time blogger. Perish the thought! 🙂
I guess I still think of myself as some crazy rambler with too much to say and not enough places or people to bore with my excitement, so it surprises me some days that I have more than 5 readers. I’m genuinely mystified (and happy) when posts I wrote on a whim, become interesting to others.
Now, I’m always unconsciously searching for new blog posts in everything I do, see, hear and read.
If you had told me I was going to end up blogging with 2 blogs on the internet, I would have first asked you what the internet was, then what a blog was, and finally how you ever thought I’d ever write anything for an audience that doesn’t include my professor or teacher to be marked for a grade.
HOW DID I END UP IN PERSONAL FINANCE?
I hated numbers. HATED. Sure, I was good at math, but it took so many hours of learning and puzzling it out, that it drove me crazy.
I hated calculating, I hated not seeing things add up, I hated missing numbers.. you get the idea.
I was more interested in the concept behind the numbers rather than having to remember all of these RULES.
Remember BEDMAS? Hate.
*The order of how numbers should be calculated. BEDMAS = Brackets, Exponents, Division, Multiplication, Addition Subtraction.
So it’s even more unrealistic (dare I say funny) that I ended up writing about money. Who knew?
Now, I actually understand and am interested in how compounding interest works and if you had told my 18 year old self that I’d be blogging about numbers, personal finance and MONEY, I would have given you the “what have you been smoking and can I have some” eye.
People who don’t know what I do (business consultant) presume that I’m in finance just because I write about money:
- Accounting
- High Finance
- Investment Banking
- Money Manager
- Number something or another
- Statistician
…and none of those come even close, although I am my own personal Money Manager. 🙂
The application of math to real life is far more interesting to me now, and I wish I had learned about how it could be applied to my life when I was a kid. Who knows where I’d be now?
SO WHERE IS ALL OF THIS POST GOING, FB?
Basically, I don’t want you to give up on anything or to exclude anything from your life (like I did) just because you aren’t a writer or very good at numbers.
If you have varied interests, follow them. See where they go, and if they die early on, shrug and move on.
Keep an open mind, give everything a shot, and don’t get discouraged because you aren’t who you think you should be.
None of us are really who we thought we’d be when we were kids, or even up until the end of college.
Heck, I wanted to be a ballerina. Then an art teacher. Then a pianist. Then a marketing assistant.
We all fell into a lot of what we’re interested in, or what we’re doing, and we learned along the way. The key is just to try, practice and not give up before even starting.
As for eemusings asking if we ever wanted to excel at what we do for fun (like blogging, photography, a musical instrument), I think if we’re really passionate and interested in what we’re doing, we will eventually, and naturally excel over time.
Once the passion is gone, the love is gone, and it becomes something you resent or hate.
For instance, I played the violin and viola, and even sang for many years, but my true passion has been, and always will be just the piano.
So I gave up the other two instruments and now I practice on the piano for fun and for myself. And I sing in the shower 😉
Just a girl trying to find a balance between being a Shopaholic and a Saver.
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Now I am self-employed, and you can read more about 
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I had a funny reflection in this post: http://www.thriftcore.com/2011/04/my-writing-career-confession-from-me-of.html
My first year of college we had to write letters to our future selves to check up on our career goals. Without even trying and without finishing college I naturally drifted to the exact position I thought I’d be in as a 17-year-old college freshman. Also, I always wanted to be a writer, now I’m a blogger. I don’t write what I thought I would (the blog is casual, I though I’d write novels one day) but it’s all still a natural fit.
The antique reselling is something I never dreamed of though. Like you said, try everything, you never know what will be the perfect fit!
I used to think that blogs were pointless. I used to think I could never be a writer because I couldn’t analyze poetry. I used to think finance was boring. It’s funny where life takes us sometimes.
And your blog is one of my favourites because of it’s personal yet humourous
touch. I also like the photos a LOT. I find it difficult to find time to
take photos for each post.. so I know how much work it takes.
I really like this post. You completely grabbed me at, “Basically, I don’t want you to give up on anything or to exclude anything from your life (like I did) just because you aren’t a writer or very good at numbers.
If you have varied interests, follow them.” It made me think, I really like real estate. It’s a hobby of mine, that’s the only thing I can figure out what to call it. I’m always looking at houses and doing a bit of research and posting on my blog about real estate, so I like your idea of following an interest. I also like interior design immensely, another hobby for lack of a better word, but unlike real estate, it’s not one I get that feeling for that I could go into it professionally. Sometimes you just get that feeling that an interest could lead to a profession and sometimes it’s better off just as an interest. Cool post!
Thanks!
Sometimes not 100% of everything is what someone loves. Just because you
love PART of something but don’t love the rest, doesn’t mean you can’t do
something in that small area.
I like what Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs had to say about passion: “Never follow your passion, but by all means bring it with you.”
Thanks for sharing. 😉
I never thought I could stick with blogging this long (9 months so far.) I love to read, but I am a terrible writer. My command of written English is probably around the 9th grade level. My tense are all messed up, but thankfully I have a partner to edit my posts!
I’m a lot more open minded these days and will try anything.
I admire you SO MUCH.
The funny thing is, I too hate numbers. So while I definitely have an interest in PF and money, it’s not on the crunching, analytical side – more the psych/sociological side. Heck, I barely “budget” as such – I like to set things simply and then forget.
I definitely had other career paths in mind over the years – interior design, graphic design, advertising, psychology – but I always wrote for enjoyment, and so it’s not surprising that ultimately I ended up following my ultimate passion/talent.
My new job is going to lead me more into business territory and I’ll probably have a bit to learn, but ultimately I’m still in writing and publishing, and this is totally where I want to be for the foreseeable future.
I think there are parts of every “subject” we love and we hate. We just
mostly focus on the “hate” part, so we exclude everything that isn’t really
interesting.
Also, as we get older, our tastes change. I actually LOVE veggies now, and
really hate too-sweet, too-sugary items.