G Day Stories: Michelle

28 Feb G Day Stories: Michelle

Michelle Gadd is an urban dwelling, Vancouver housewife and mother of two rambunctious boys. Michelle created Elasticpantcity as an outlet to write about life. From parenting to city living, fashion to frugality, food to faith, no subject is off the table. Michelle invites her readers to take a glimpse inside her life and be inspired by the beauty of art in the every day. You can also find Michelle at www.vancouvermom.ca.

When I was 12 I had a far better vision of myself than I had at 18. I wanted to be a writer. In grade seven a teacher would come to our class just to teach creative writing. She was a children’s book author and wrote beautifully descriptive stories. I remember the day she chose one of my stories to read in front of the class. I had very low self-esteem and trouble finding meaningful friendships with my peers. When she read the story to the class for the first time I felt like I had significance. I was no longer only the awkward skinny girl with a bad perm and braces, I was Michelle, The Writer.

Over the course of high school and into university I lost that identity as a writer. School emphasized academic writing and there was little time for writing as pleasure. I worked hard to obtain my BA in Psychology but deep down I knew it was not my true passion. Finally in my last year of university I was in a special program that involved one on one mentorship with a professor. He asked me point blank, “What do you want to do for a career?” Sheepishly I told him that when I was young I had dreamed of being a writer. I felt like in some ways I was admitting to defeat having pursued a degree that I wasn’t enthusiastic about. Just like my grade seven teacher, he gave me the encouragement I needed to embrace my identity as a writer.

Through this experience I learned that the dream I had at 12 was legitimate. It was worth pursuing and not just conjectured by the silly imagination of a young girl.  Not only that but no education is wasted. My degree in Psychology has taught me how to do research and how to be disciplined in putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!).

Now when people tell me they don’t know what kind of career to pursue I always ask them, “What did you want to be when you were 12?”