Never stop pursuing your passion and dreams
Writing can often be a lonely, even frustrating experience, with many highs and lows.
Is this also your experience?
While walking along the beautiful beach near my home (see photos above and below), I have been reflecting on my writing journey of about forty years.
I mostly write in a niche area, with a focus on encouraging youth to reach their potential, especially promoting the spirit of mentoring.
I have had the privilege of training over 1,000 volunteer adult mentors, learning from their feedback, and always feeling encouraged to capture and share as many mentoring experiences as I can.
When I retired, I decided to collate all my resources, share many of my experiences working with young people as a teacher, school principal, coach, mentor and parent, with the specific aim of encouraging others working with our youth.
One of my books emerged from the development of 260 free short podcasts, Mentoring Minutes, to encourage those supporting young people.
One book turned into six (see photo at the end of this post)— in addition to seven others published during the past 25 years — and now I feel the curtain is coming down on a fascinating, enjoyable experience.
5 Lessons learnt from my writing
Here are some of the more important lessons I have learnt from my writing journey to date.
- The power of networks. There are some wonderfully supportive people — in addition to two publishers — who have happily endorsed my books, shared their wisdom and insights, believed in me, and motivated me to write.
- The threatened, or jealous or …. Others have not responded to requests to share information, or have ignored my invitations to promote each other’s work. We claim to be passionate about encouraging youth to reach their potential, yet only want to do this in a certain way that benefits them or their organization — is it about ego, or wanting to claim the higher ground to receive funding?
- Support where the money is. My writing is deliberately generic, as mentoring principles — indeed different ways to encourage young people to reach their potential — cross all cultures and faiths, and can be relatively easily adapted to specific situations. In New Zealand, where I live, I face many challenges to share my experiences, as I don’t write to support specific cultural groups — donor funding is very narrowly focused, sadly — and many mentoring programs lack people with broader experiences.
- The ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’. This is a “cultural phenomenon, particularly associated with Australia and New Zealand, where successful individuals are criticized, resented, or ostracized for their achievements. It’s the act of “cutting down the tall poppy,” meaning people try to diminish or undermine those who stand out due to their success or ambition. This can manifest as negative comments, rumors, or even active sabotage of their work.” I often wonder how many people of all ages have not fulfilled their potential as a result of the ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’? How many writers have quit writing?
- Never stop chasing passions and dreams. I dreamt of being a teacher from about the age of eleven, and enjoyed a wonderfully fulfilling — always challenging — career that took me to many countries, and provided a variety of experiences. I still get a thrill when I see a young person overcome an obstacle and continue their journey to pursue their dream.
I will keep reflecting during the coming weeks on the way forward.
I feel humbled and privileged to have received the support of two different publishers. While it must be a fantastic experience to write a book that becomes a ‘best seller’, I have always written to encourage those working with youth, and have not been driven by a desire to make money. I feel this allows me to share and retain a voice of authenticity.
What experiences have you had as a writer?
