Many years ago, I embarked on a transformative journey, shifting my career from an HR manager and consultant to a certified Career and Life coach. This change was not just a job title switch but a profound personal evolution.

One of the pivotal activities I undertook during this transition, which I also use with my coaching clients, was to complete a 360° feedback survey. This survey, asking my friends and family to provide feedback regarding my strengths and skills, unveiled a surprising talent—storytelling. I initially brushed off this feedback, but years later, I rediscovered it and realised I'd been telling stories for a long time, just in different formats.

My journey has taught me the importance of exploring our strengths, talents and interests, as they can lead us to unexpected and fulfilling paths.

In this article, I reflect on the power of reading and writing and how it has shaped my life and career. I also share my journey from journaling as a teenager to crafting blog posts as a certified coach and publishing my first novel.

Why am I sharing this?

Or, perhaps you’re asking, why should I read this article?

Because my journey offers a mirror, it reflects the possibilities of what can unfold when you embrace your interests and strengths.

I hope that by reading about my journey with writing and crafting stories, you’ll be encouraged to think about your latent talents and strengths and how they could transform your life if you identify and embrace them.

On that note, let’s dive in.

A lifetime of writing

Start with Journalling

Journalling was the start of a more consistent writing practice

Now, we’re jumping in our time machine and heading back to the last century, to the 1980’s, where, as a child, I’d write simple stories. If we skip a few years, to the early 1990s, I was a teenager and did what most teen girls did in the ‘90s - I kept a secret journal. It was full of angst-ridden drama that, if I were to read it now, I’d dismiss as ridiculous. But at the time, a journal was a safe repository for the outpouring of concerns and emotion.

And, if you were a teenage girl or are fortunate enough to share your home with one, you know, there is a lot of emotion. 😉

Travel meant more writing

In the mid-90s, at eighteen, I was fresh out of school, living and working in the UK with my parents and siblings back in Australia. Every day, I wrote at least one aerogramme. These printed items were purchased relatively inexpensively from the post office, folded up and became envelopes. They streamlined the communication process and travelled quickly. An aerogramme from Sydney to Dorset (where I was living) might arrive within three days, which is pretty incredible when you think that piece of mail is going halfway around the world.

They were not as fast as an email, but we didn’t have email then!

I wrote to my mum three to four times a week, sending over 180 letters during the 50 weeks I was travelling and away. I also wrote weekly aerogrammes to my grandparents and friends, plus kept a daily journal, capturing my experiences and travel adventures. There was a lot of writing, and it was all by hand!

Writing in the workplace

Corporate life meant a lot of my writing was emails

Back in Australia, my university years were filled with academic writing. Then, my early years working for a large corporation were filled with report writing and emails.

So. Many. Emails.

These forms of writing honed my communication skills and taught me the importance of crafting a narrative, even in a corporate setting.

Although I loved to tell stories, my roundabout writing style was not always welcome in a technology company where explicit and concise communication was preferred!

A regular writing routine

When I retrained as a coach, I rediscovered my joy of writing and started with regular blog posts. I wrote a weekly blog post and a fortnightly newsletter for a year or more. This evolved into a longer, more in-depth monthly article and two newsletters per month. Over the years, I have written extensively for my coaching business and a few articles for other publications.

I also toyed with narrative non-fiction, drafting a memoir and a travel book. These projects have allowed me to delve deeper into my personal experiences and share them in a way that resonates with others.

So, I have had a long thread of loving words and writing throughout my life. But that’s only part of the story. After all, the best writers are also avid readers.

It started with reading

Reading and writing have been powerful tools in my personal growth. Thanks to my mum's guidance, I learned to read before I started school. This early start led me to become a voracious reader from an early age.

I vividly recall devouring all of the Anne Green Gables books as an eight-year-old. They were a suggestion from my third-grade teacher to try and slow me down. Until then, I’d been reading and finishing a Judy Blume book every afternoon after school and then after dinner, looking for something else to read. My poor mother!

Books, both fiction and non-fiction, have been a companion, ready to offer solutions, suggestions, and strategies for any challenge I face. They've been a source of comfort, inspiration, and growth.

Non-fiction books provide guidance

Books have also been a constant. They’re always there, like a best friend, ready to hang out with me. No matter how I’m feeling or the challenge I’m facing, a book will provide the solution. My nonfiction book friends can offer suggestions and strategies for my business, a how-to guide for any issues or challenges, professional and personal development, and more.

For many years, I ran an online bi-monthly Book Club where we’d discuss a non-fiction book.

The Book Club idea morphed into the Two Booked Up podcast, which I co-host with my fantastic friend and fellow book lover, Shelley Tonkin Smith. We discuss professional and personal development books that inspire, delight, and bring us joy. We fast-forward you to the ‘mind-blown’ and ‘aha’ moments so you can hear the valuable takeaways from the book directly from us.

This podcast has been a platform for me to not only share my love for books but also to further explore the art of storytelling.

Fiction books provide solace

Fiction offers another level of solace: a balm for a broken heart, the excitement of a cosy crime or thriller, and the escapism, fun, and love of a romance story.

Fiction’s ability to transport us to different worlds and evoke many emotions has significantly influenced my writing journey.

Through reading and writing fiction, I’ve explored different narrative styles and techniques, enhancing my storytelling skills.

I love reading all sorts of books, especially those that make me feel good, which is why I enjoy a love story in a book. It doesn't have to be a romance, just a story that lifts my heart. Love stories help us feel hopeful about the world. At times, especially if we are having a tough time, reading a good love story can provide what we’re looking for—the optimism, connection, and sense that things work out well in the end and that everyone gets happy ever after.

These types of books help us feel good, to feel happy. Sometimes, they show us how we should expect to be treated or how we don’t want to be treated.

Reading and Writing - A Symbiotic Relationship

When we feel something, we learn, which is why I believe books that tug at our emotions are worth reading and writing. They have the power to inspire personal growth and transformation.

Books and stories take us deeply into the world of others, showing us how others have managed the challenges that we might be facing now, have faced in the past, or will be facing in the future.

Characters in fiction books, if well drawn, can provide profound insights and lessons for how we want to deal with challenges ourselves. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has experienced enlightening personal insights after reading a fiction book! 😁

This is why I am deeply passionate about reading AND writing; these ideas were not just thoughts but emotions bubbling in my head as I penned my debut novel, Avoiding The Friend Zone.

The main protagonists, Kate and Jon, face challenges that many of us have faced or will face: ⁠

Starting a new job,
Moving away from home, ⁠
Making new friends, ⁠
Falling in love, and ⁠
The death of loved ones.⁠

⁠Most of us have either experienced these situations or will in the future. ⁠

Reading how a fictional character tackles a particular challenge can be reassuring or even illuminating. This insight can be applied to our lives, helping us navigate similar challenges with a new perspective. Reading about others and their approaches can help us feel connected, even when the characters are fictional.

Connect with your strengths

Just as storytelling became a surprising yet fulfilling path for me, your unique blend of strengths, interests, priorities, and love for various passions can pave the way for your own transformative journey. By tapping into your strengths, you can find deeper career fulfilment and perhaps even discover new avenues for growth and self-expression.

My journey from HR manager and consultant to certified career and life coach and now published author has been underpinned by love, which is my top strength. I love to support people in loving their careers and lives; I love to read, and I’ve always loved to write and tell stories. I hope to inspire you to explore your strengths, talents and interests by sharing why I write in this article.

Embrace your strengths in your personal and professional growth, and who knows where your journey might lead you?

Are you ready to connect with your strengths and feel excited by your work, too?

If reading about my journey has you contemplating your own, and you’d love to feel as excited about your work as I do, I’ve got you!

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