Krista Lauren

My hands hurt. The best way I can describe the pain is, “arthritis-y.” The joints just have a constant pain and it can be hard to work at times. That’s what I get for enjoying writing! I can actually write better on my phone, as I use thumbs instead of my index finger to type. Since I am a technical writer, I use my index finger a lot. Like, eight hours a day a lot. I scroll and click and edit and click again. There’s a lot of click work involved.

I don’t know what my dream job would be right now. I really love to write about my feelings, but I enjoy what I do as a technical writer. I’m sure I have mentioned on here that my dream was to be in journalism. I went to graduate school when I was super sick with POTS and couldn’t hold a full-time job. It was great because I was able to connect with the disability office, and be productive with something, even if it was small. I chose to do tech writing because I was most excited by the editing classes I would get to take. As I have mentioned in the past, I have always enjoyed editing work. This certificate is the reason I have the job I do today.

In hindsight, I’m really glad I went back to school for something more practical. I took a few creative writing classes, which I loved, but I also got a certificate in a subject matter that I could get a remote work job in. This would have been more difficult in the journalism field — not to mention all of the jobs I would really want are not in the Washington, DC area. I have become more practical as I have gotten older, but I also still really yearn to be creative. I used to love preparing for interviews and adventuring out into the world to find a story that people would enjoy reading. That was over a decade ago now, but feels like just yesterday.

On occasion I still think of what my work life could have been, but I am honestly truly happy. It’s funny when life goes in the opposite direction you expect. I remember being in school with some classmates who said they dreamed of being technical writers. When they explained what they would do at work, I went home and told friends about how funny it is that people dream of doing such bland work. That could never be me. Now that is a big part of my job! But I love my life and am endlessly grateful for the way it is turning out.

I am trying to come up with some more creative projects for myself (One of which will be writing on my blog again), but I think it’s amazing that I have been working fulltime for a few years now. I am so lucky and I don’t want to take my health for granted. This is exactly what I prayed for, and I feel so proud of myself for where I am today. Even though I’m not doing something that lights a fire in my heart, I guess I still am a writer of sorts.