Summary

Alex Andra, a writer on Medium, shares that writing is a passion and a tool for personal growth rather than a means for financial gain, detailing the therapeutic and self-improvement benefits of the craft.

Abstract

Alex Andra discusses the personal significance of writing beyond monetary rewards. Despite the allure of earning a living from writing, Andra emphasizes that the true value lies in self-improvement, therapy, and the potential to help others. Writing has been a part of Andra's life since childhood, providing a boost in self-esteem through the curation of her work on Medium. It serves as a means to evaluate her life, improve cognitive function after a head injury, and act as a form of therapy to process past traumas. Andra views her writing as a personal achievement that contributes to her continuous growth and hopes to inspire and assist others, particularly in the context of domestic violence and abuse.

Opinions

Writing is not primarily about financial gain for the author; it's about personal development and the intrinsic rewards it offers.
The act of writing and being curated on Medium has significantly boosted the author's self-esteem.
Reflecting on past experiences through writing has allowed the author to evaluate and make sense of their life journey.
Engaging in writing has aided in the recovery of the author's cognitive functions following a head injury.
The author uses writing as a therapeutic outlet, contrary to their upbringing that discouraged expressing emotions.
Sharing personal stories and having them resonate with readers is considered a major personal achievement.
The author is driven by the motivation to help others, especially those in abusive relationships, through their writing.
Despite previous setbacks, the author harbors a dream to publish children's books and short stories in the future.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Writing is Not About the Money for Me

It’s about so much more than that

Would it be nice to earn a living from writing? Sure, it would be amazing, but writing isn’t about the money for me which is a good thing really as I’d never earn enough to keep food in the cupboards!

Since I was a child, 10 or 11 years old, I used to sit up late each night in bed reading books and penning my own short stories. I never ever told anyone about my writing and when I would read back what I had written, I thought “no one would want to read this”. I never thought any more about it once I hit my mid-teens as I got distracted by boys and booze.

A decade later, in my 20’s, I decided I wanted to write some children’s books with my best friend. I was going to be the writer and her, the illustrator but when she met a new love interest, that went out of the window and instead of going it alone, I put the dream to bed. Never did I contemplate that I could actually do something like that all by myself.

Fast forward another decade and here I am on Medium. I didn’t purposefully start writing again recently, it happened accidentally through a friend: What am I Even Doing Here?

So what is writing about for me?

Improving My Writing

Through reading life stories by other writers and articles on improving writing skills, I’m learning to improve my writing. But why bother when it’s not about the money? Well, just because you do not get monetary compensation for doing something, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. There are many aspects of our lives that we can and should improve on, just because.

2. Self-Esteem

I’ve only been writing on here for three months, and certainly not as frequently as I’d like, but I’ve already had five pieces curated in a number of different topics. This has given my self-esteem a much-needed boost.

Usually, I’m very self-critical and never think I’m good enough but getting curated, not just once but five times feels incredible. It gives me a positive feeling that maybe, just maybe I can write. OK, so I’m no Stephen King, but Medium seems to like what I’m writing, so I’m doing something right at least!

3. Evaluating My Life

Since starting to write on Medium, I’ve had a good think about my life, both present and in the past. I have thought about various life experiences. Things I normally wouldn’t think about day-to-day but now so much of my past life feels very present because I’m reliving my experiences in order to write about them and I’m using this experience to evaluate my life.

4. Improving My Cognitive Function

Writing is helping to improve my cognitive function. Nine years ago, I suffered a high-impact blow to the head. I suffered a bad concussion for many weeks afterward but even after the concussion subsided, I still wasn’t back to normal and the effects of what happened lasted for years.

My cognitive function was impaired and I struggled to read, write, and even speak. I’ve been working hard over the last few years to improve my cognitive function and spending time daily on Medium reading and writing is really helping me.

5. It’s a Therapy for Me

Through writing about my past experiences, many of which have been traumatic, I’m able to use Medium as a form of release, a therapy. I was brought up to never talk about our feelings and to suppress our emotions. This was so unhealthy and I really struggled through childhood due to this. Having a medium to express my emotions through is proving cathartic for me.

6. Personal Achievement

Writing stories about my life and getting some of them curated is a massive personal achievement for me. People actually spend time reading about my life, that feels crazy but that’s what’s happening. With my daily views and reads going up and up as the days go on, it keeps my motivation up and gives me that drive to keep going.

I personally feel that it’s so important that we as individuals strive to continually improve ourselves and achieve new things in life. I’ve really been focused on this over the last few years and I’m finding Medium is one of my personal achievements, one which will help me continue to grow and improve for many years to come hopefully.

7. Helping Others

Lastly, but this is probably one of the most important reasons to be here. Although I write about a number of topics, domestic violence/abuse is one of the topics. If I can help just one person get through and out of an abusive relationship, then laying myself bare on here will have been worth the hours and hours I spend on here.

So there you have it, my personal development means so much more to me than dollars rolling in and you never know, perhaps one day, I’ll start penning those short stories again and I’ll start planning my children’s books again and actually find the confidence from deep within to get them published.

That’s the dream…the once forgotten dream.