It’s hard to switch off when everything around you seems to be falling apart. Everyone is affected in one way, or another. My family is no exception and I’m sharing the tears – and the way I’m trying to cope with the fallout – on my other website where I blog as Lucy Coleman:
https://linnbhalton.co.uk/seeing-the-positive-in-the-negative-shedding-tears-and-staying-healthy/
I wanted this post to look at the importance of finding your own happy place. Even in the pre-lockdown times, many people struggle to find a form of escape at the end of the day, or at weekends. It’s hard to switch off, isn’t it, because family, work, and life in general dish out tough demands. It’s so easy to collapse onto the sofa and watch TV, or get out that phone/iPad/tablet and play games.
The question is – is it relaxing, or does it leave you feeling empty?
Does that scary film, or game, over-stimulate your mind for no good reason? Do you go to bed thinking that’s another couple of hours of your life you won’t get back.
Maybe watching a feel-good film/programme, or engaging in social media is a good way of de-stressing, but perhaps it’s time to think outside the box.
Doing just that ended up becoming a new career for me – so here’s the story:
You know when you hit a milestone birthday and you decide you’re going to give yourself a birthday present? Well, I decided I was going to stop watching TV for three months. Every evening, after making dinner, I left my other half to wash up and I headed into the study. I had an interesting and challenging day job working in finance, but in my heart I’d always longed to write. I did write, as a child and young teen, mostly short stories and poetry. Then I got married and then I had children and then I went back to work… you get the picture.
Always, in the back of my mind, was that belief that I was meant to write. But hitting that milestone birthday I began to wonder if I could, actually, write a full-length manuscript. I mean, some people toil for years and years, never feeling the satisfaction of writing ‘The End’.
Three months. Could I do it? I didn’t even think about how to approach it, I just sat down in front of the blank screen and started typing. That experience taught me so much – lessons that later proved invaluable to me. And yes, three months later I typed ‘The End’ (I still do that now, but publishers always take it out) and it was just over 130,000 words in length. I was euphoric.
Sadly, after an accident a few years later which damaged the hard drive, all I have left of that book is a printed copy. But it served a purpose – I proved to myself that when the day came, I was ready to seize it. As it turned out I had to wait five years, but I don’t regret that as no experience in life is wasted when you are a writer. It just gives you more food for thought, as the saying goes. And when the day came, I sat down and wrote five manuscripts back-to-back before I google’d what to do next.
The point is, that three months flew by and although it was a form of work, I couldn’t wait to take my seat each evening and spirit myself away with my characters.
But it wasn’t the first time a ‘hobby’ had turned into a career for me. After twenty years in finance, my hobby of designing interiors – which led to many house moves – and making over rooms for family and friends, I was offered a job. Out of the blue, someone saw my work and asked me to pitch for kitting out the interior of a 5-bed, executive show home. Was I nervous? Heck, yes! Did I do it? Heck, yes! Did I get the job – yes!
Three years later, though, I had to suddenly give up my dream job as my mum was unwell. Sadly, she died just three months later. I didn’t go back to work, but my husband and I decided it was time to realise my writing dream. And here I am… with eighteen published novels writing as Linn and Lucy Coleman, I’ve just submitted my twentieth manuscript.
To me writing isn’t work – yes, there are elements of it which are – but the actual writing takes me to my happy place. It was the same with my interest in interior design. I hate shopping for clothes, but shopping for towels, curtains and bedding… oh yes! And as for upcyling furniture, or stencilling on walls, or painting a feature wall – I’m in heaven.
Hobbies don’t have to turn into careers but sometimes they do. If you love what you are doing, then the energy you expend isn’t tiring, it’s uplifting. Those evenings I spent writing that first manuscript I dropped into bed ready for sleep with a smile on my face. It will never be read by anyone but me, but that doesn’t matter. I proved something to myself and it gave me the confidence – when the timing was right – to grab the opportunity without hesitation.
Find your happy place, something that makes you feel positive about yourself. There will still be time for TV and playing games… but steal some of that time for YOU and use it wisely. You never know where it might lead…
Until next time – thanks for dropping by and I hope you, and your loved ones, stay safe and well!
