My Day Job vs My Passion

I have a day job, and I really enjoy it. I work as a Registered Medical Assistant in a thriving surgical practice and I really love what I do and I love the people with whom I work. I am always in a great mood when I arrive at the office, because I believe that your attitude when you walk through the door will set the tone for the day.

Like the quote says, “Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.” And I believe that because I like what I do gives me the freedom to be successful, and liking what I do brings me happiness.

But as much as I love being an RMA for a wonderful doctor, with wonderful co-workers (and friends), and a wonderful company, my real passion is writing. If I could make a living as a writer, I would be just as happy because I would be doing what I love!

In college I wrote for the school newspaper. Then I got an internship with a TV news station in Chattanooga my senior year in college. I was tasked the odd writing assignment – turning a 3-4 minute story into a 20-30 second news blurb. Then after college, I became a news reporter for the local newspaper in Cleveland. I was the police beat reporter, but I also wrote several first person stories, which I loved doing because I actually got to experience things I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to experience.

I conquered The Dragon on the back of a friend’s motorcycle. I tried my hand at flying an ultralight glider. I donned a fire suit and was escorted into a house that the local fire department was using in a training exercise and watched as they set the corner of the living room on fire. Let me tell you, I had a new respect for firefighters because that gear ain’t light. I about tipped over when they put the SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) on my back. I also wrote a weekly feature called “Home of the Week”.

From there I went into Public Relations for a small Christian university and wrote numerous stories a week. Not to toot my own horn, but in the 5-6 years that I worked there, I increased the quantity of outgoing news articles ten-fold. In fact, I was the first female PR coordinator at the university. The only problem I had with that job was that I was held to a higher standard than any of my predecessors because I came from a newspaper background and had media contacts in TV, radio, and newspaper. I was also paid more than $10,000 less than my male predecessors. Although I loved this job, having to justify what I did every second of the day, busting my hump all day, every day, sometimes nights and weekends, caused me to burn out real quick and left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Needless to say, family obligations (my husband’s, not mine) pulled me from this job and into the world of medicine where I started a new career path as a medical assistant. The first doctor I worked with (Dr. R) was awesome and taught me a lot about the field of medicine. He knew and understood my passion to write, and even encouraged it. He gifted me a couple of laptops (a large one, and then a mini one), screenwriting software (Final Draft), and subscriptions to magazines for writers. He was and still is a great friend, and he is like another brother to me.

A couple of years ago, I wrote about my loving my job. You can read it HERE. I also wrote about jobs I’d like to try and what I’d like to be when I grow up.It doesn’t matter how old I get, I will always find a way to love my job, whether it be as an RMA or as a writer.

But cultivating my passion is a bit harder than I thought. It’s a lot of work, but I figure that if I put in a lot of work to make my day job a success, then I need to do the same, if not more, for my passion. I joined several blogging communities, like BlogHer, SheKnows, Bloglovin, and Blogger Babes, and I promote my blog via Facebook, Instagram ,and Twitter. I follow other bloggers and writers, and try to do some form of networking every day.

So for me, comparing my day job versus my passion for writing doesn’t necessarily mean I have to be two different people. It just means that I have to prioritize my day. I can work really hard at being the best RMA between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (with my 30-minute lunch break spent coming up with blog ideas), and then after I get home, I can be the best darn writer/blogger I can be! And because I am putting my whole heart and mind into both my day job and my passion, I will succeed!

What are your passionate about? Are you doing what you love? Is your day job your passion? If not, then what are you doing to cultivate your passion? I’d love to hear about what you’re passionate about and how you are cultivating it!

Yours Truly,
Vanessa

(**This blog post was also published on BlogHer)