Good day,
I have been having an internal dispute with myself.
To get a better grasp, this is my situation;
I used to fascinated by writing, the thought of thinking up something and putting it on paper was ecstatic for me, on top of that, I am pretty much a nerd.
I found out what academic writing was and it was both these interests of mine combined. I applied for an online job as an academic writer, I thankfully got it. I enjoyed it because I learnt new things and it broadened my view of the world.
It also taught me a lot of valuable skills such as quality assurance, fact checking and meeting a deadline. Unfortunately within a month of my job, I got overwhelmed with nearly everything about it. I still wrote but eventually my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I made some money through that venture, but after that, I completely quit being an academic writer. It became joyless and shallow for me despite being good at it.
It has been about half a year now, and I have been rethinking going back to being an academic writer because it might be my talent, despite liking it any more and it would be wrong not to if it is.
My main question is whether one would have a talent in something they somewhat dislike doing.
1 comment
“I got overwhelmed”
Sounds like burnout to me.
In my first year of uni, I got burnt out. I was a great opera singer, I got the only vocal scholarship they gave out, I’d spent years and years doing great things with my voice. But within the first 3 months, I didn’t want to do music anymore. I didn’t want to sing irnpkay the piano. I didn’t want to listen to any sort of classical music or opera even though it had featured massively in my life.
And it lasted for a good 6 to 9 months.
I’ve since realised this burnout was due to undiagnosed ADHD but burnouts are burnouts. You just need to find the reason behind yours, if you think this applies to your situation.
Being overwhelmed
Being underappreciated
Not being paid enough
Personal traumas
Overly stressed
Mental health conditions
There’s a variety of reasons. Once we address these, we start to heal, we learn how to recognise the signs of burnout and we start to enjoy our passions again.