Pursuing My Happyness

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who spends far too long worrying about what others think of them. Due to my ill health and the special needs of my children I've spent most of my married life at home. Some might say it was admirable, or I was lucky I could be there for them growing up. I, on the other hand, took more notice of those sniping at me to 'get a wee job'. Last year, I bit the bullet and went back to work. Like everything, it had its pros and cons.

I was earning my own money, socialising with other people and generally integrating back into the outside world. Becoming a 'normal person', as I told my husband. The downside was I was spending less and less time with my family. You see, last year my writing was also starting to take off.

Like so many writers I was trying to juggle work, family and writing. At night I was locking myself away to work on edits or write blog posts, and family life was the one area suffering. My health also took a turn for the worse and added another problem to the ever growing list of conditions attached to Lupus.

One thing going back to work did for me was give me confidence. I told the girls I worked with all about my writing and they made me feel proud, rather than embarrassed about my writing.

A few weeks ago I felt strong enough to make the decision that I wanted to write full time. I have so many projects on the go that I really wanted to give it my all. As one of my fabulous colleagues told me, 'writing is your passion'. And from tomorrow, I will be pursuing my passion. I've quit my job.

Of course, I couldn't do this without the support of my husband, but he believes I'll be happier and therefore the whole family will benefit. 

I watched the Will Smith film, The Pursuit of Happyness, recently. (Hence the purposeful mis-spelling of happiness!) His character made so many sacrifices to reach his ultimate goal. Now, I don't expect we'll be sleeping in a toilet cubicle anytime soon, nor making millions, but I'm giving my dream a shot. If it doesn't work out at least I know I tried.

Right now as I make my plans, I'm flitting between excitement and outright panic. I've already signed one new contract, so fingers crossed this is a sign of things to come...