On Crafting Personas

For the longest time, I went through my fair share of existential crises where I constantly asked myself: who am I? It heightened when it was time to choose a career path.

I saw people who had discovered what they wanted to be early in life lucky; like my partner, who found his passion for music before he was 10. He built his persona around that and has thrived in the events and entertainment industry for almost two decades.

Some of us are not that lucky.

I didn’t call myself a writer until 2019 --even after I’d written many stories and articles. Not even with a shelf full of journals, diary entries and poems on love, loss, and family, dating back to my teenage days.

I didn’t apply for a writing job or take writing gigs until 2020 when I wanted to switch to the tech industry.

I didn’t find my writing niche (Life Lessons) until 2021 when it randomly came to me one Saturday morning. And I saw that most of my work told stories surrounding it.

I didn’t enter a writing contest until a couple of months ago when my partner encouraged me and didn’t take no for an answer this time.

Some people fall into this category of discovering who they are much later, while some have always known.

Growing up, I was made to believe that I had to follow a certain path to success. I either had to be a medical doctor, lawyer, engineer, or work in a bank.?

So I chose to study Economics at uni even though I disliked all the courses lined up. And even though I knew it wasn’t something I’d want to devote time to doing.

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But since my family funded my tuition, it was easier to accept their ideologies. And somehow, along the lines, I boxed up everything I loved to do and stowed them away in the abandoned room in the back of my mind. In the end, it was a waste of my time and their money.

But I’m not going to put all the blame on family orientation. I’ll lay a huge portion of it on myself.?

No matter how hard I tried to excel in the course I chose to study, and how tightly I locked up that room with the box, that part of me never left. I explored different career paths, yet it lingered at the back of my mind.

In every path chosen, in every version of my life, in every universe, I was always a writer. I just didn’t know it at the time.

After I left my first uni and got a second admission, I saw it as a chance to change my course. I took up communications without speaking with my family first. (It was the closest to what I really wanted to study, which was Literature and Creative Writing. My dad would have had my head. Lol!) I ticked the box next to it and waited for the hell to come.?

It took eight years after that to finally call myself a writer. But that was the first step in the right direction.

What’s the point of this story, you ask??

It’s this: you don’t need to box yourself into society’s expectations when creating your persona.

By society, I mean family, friends, social media followers, teachers, professors, partners, bosses, and anyone else who makes you question whether your passion is worth pursuing.?

All that matters is: 1.) who you want to be. 2.) doing what you love. and 3.) making a difference in this big, big world.

And thanks to this digital era, we’re blessed with resources that can propel us. We only have to look. We can show off our craft and build a community that can benefit from it.?

I’ve learned that even if I’m not keeping people alive like medical professionals, I can keep their positivity up and awaken their minds. Even if I can’t defend them in court, I can empathize and remind them that they’re not alone by externalizing these emotions on paper/screen. If I can’t build machines and infrastructure, I can tell stories that bring them to life. Even if I don’t invent the next life-changing thing, I’m observing the world and events and documenting them. I’m making something that cuts across lifetimes. I can entertain, convince, educate, and create. I can excel in this path while making a difference. And that’s okay.

I hope you also pursue your passion. Make money from it if you want to or don’t. As long as it makes you happy, contributes to the world, and brings you fulfilment.