Guest post by James Sewell: How I fell in love with words

Inspired by my last post “How I Developed a Way with Words” I’ve set up a weekly series “How I Fell in Love with Words” where I’ve asked my fellow bloggers to pitch in their stories of how they were empowered with words and got into writing. This is the first post of this series. I hope you’ll be able to draw some inspiration from these stories. Enjoy.

Who I Am:

My name is James Sewell, and I’m an associate-licensed professional mental health counselor. I love counseling and psychotherapy, and helping others improve their mental health is truly my career passion. Blogging is my realization of this passion: to help others with mental health knowledge. That’s really the essence of counseling. But how I went from practising “in the field” to sharing information from a screen is a different story. It’s one of the big life changes and dissatisfaction.

The value of words is, ironically, difficult to put into words. I could explain to you all the mechanics of communication regarding words, but that would likely only bore you. What I can tell you is that words are, without a doubt, the most powerful invention of the human mind. The artful use of words can help people find healing from lifelong wounds. Words can create safety, security, and show love. Words brought me to counseling, and the process of counseling brought me to blogging.

What Changed:

Following the birth of my first child in January 2018, I decided to work closer to home for my wife and son. I transferred from a job I loved with people who were like family to reduce my two hours of driving to/from work each day. I took the same position I was in but in my home city due to a recent opening. This wasn’t traditional counseling, mind. I worked as part of a community mental health team that treats some of the most severe and persistent mentally ill clients. Think disorders with psychosis involved.

Anyway, my job at the new work site was terrible. The service is provided to clients was awful. In fact, the entire job, even though I was working within the same team model, was different. From day one, I was bullied and belittled by my new supervisor, constantly. My job was threatened from day one as terms of my employment that had been agreed-upon were challenged, along with my job.

How I Fell in Love With Words:

So, miserable and underpaid to work a high-stress, high-liability job that I hated, I wanted new income. Someone planted the idea of developing “residual income” for the purpose of being able to afford my passion. I researched various ways and arrived at blogging. I enjoy writing, and I could share information about mental health in a way people could afford to access. As time passed, it became more than a long-term hope of extra money. My blog is my passion. It’s what drives me. Within my blog, I am untethered to corporate greed. I can share information and help people on my own terms. I am in love with this process and have found myself growing in knowledge and skill since starting. Through writing and blogging, I’ve found myself and rediscovered my life mission.

PS: I say “my blog” because I do all the writing, but it is equally my wife’s. We invested the money in it, share designs many of the graphics for the blog and all of our pins on Pinterest. Further, she helps to edit the content I produce and make it the best it can be. Without her, our blog wouldn’t be half as good or fun as it is!

If You Want to Start Your Own Blog…

Know your “Why.” Understand your purpose in blogging and what motivates you.
Do some research, first. Take a few days to a week to read some blogs and talk to people. The easiest way is through the blogging community on Twitter.
Choose a name and blogging editor (WordPress, blogger, etc.). Google the options to understand what this means, but it’s essentially what makes your site and publishes your posts. I use WordPress.
Get help. Ask friends and family to give you good, solid feedback. Like I said, if it weren’t for my wife (and my dad and best friend), my blog would not be nearly as good as it is, though it still has far to go!
Build community. Follow other bloggers, share their work, and just be kind. Give without asking, and others will do the same for you.

In Parting…

Check out The Hamster Ball’s posts, to be sure! There are some great ones on this blog. And if you’re interested in checking mine out, I’d love to have you!