When I grow up, I'll be a... writer!

Rediscovering the creative dreams of childhood through the lens of life experience.

As a child, I dreamed of being a writer, a dancer, a painter, a musician, a textile artist, and a jewellery designer. I never quite got there.

I didn't have a natural rhythm. Performing terrified me because I was so shy. I struggled with spelling, and English lessons seemed more about constructing paragraphs and analysing a man called Shakespeare, than telling stories. Jewellery-making was fun, I even sold a few pieces! But it was a hobby, not a career.

What I did have was a love of people, of stories, of understanding what makes humans tick.
So I followed that pull into psychology and counselling. I built a career I love, one that lets me keep creativity alive in a different form.
I fancy myself as a detective, seeking out hidden stories, patterns, and finding the person underneath the anxiety, stress, and coping strategies.
Then we work together to create a new normal, a future where they can be their true, relaxed, resilient selves. It is creative work. It is joyful work. And every day, I feel privileged to do it.

Now, somehow, my childhood dreams have circled back around.
I have found the creativity I imagined, but with the tools I have built through years of listening and understanding.
I get to write. Creating fictional characters from the same deep love of people and their stories feels like coming home.
My fiction as well as non-fiction case studies are often grounded in emotional resilience, messy relationships, recovery, and hope, all the human moments I know from my therapeutic work.
I sit at my laptop and own the titles writer and author, and it brings me an undeniable thrill.
That giddy excitement I had as a child, racing to show my mum a drawing or a craft project?
It is back.
When my book arrived, the first thing I did was take it straight to her house.
"Look, Mum! Look what I did!"
#stillgiddy

Thank you for being part of this new chapter with me.