Do What You Love

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Today’s *shared stories* come from Britt Berg and Stephanie Levy

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Britt Berg

Every day I pinch myself, wondering: How did I get so lucky? Have I really been able to find a career that I am passionate about? I am so thankful that every day I get to do what I love.

What am I doing – what is this thing that I love so very much? Every day, I get paid to write about pregnancy, fertility, and women’s health. And I get to do it from home. I write health articles and blog posts about reproduction, babies, and birthing. I love this!

Before I begin, I must confess that becoming a writer was never my lifelong dream. I always liked writing, but I wasn’t the girl in high school and college who was constantly dreaming of becoming a writer. So how in the world did I get here?

I guess you could say that I let my interests, not money or other people’s expectations, or any other conventions, guide my career. In college I threw practicality and convention to the wind. I studied what I loved, what fascinated me: issues of race, class, and gender, radical feminist theory, breastfeeding trends around the world, natural childbirth, meditation, and more. I took yoga and dance classes. I did what I loved. This combination of interests led me to go on to complete a Master’s degree in counseling psychology, with a focus on yoga and dance therapy as healing methods. Yoga therapy. Yup. Sigh.

And then it was time to get a real job.

Yoga therapy was awesome, but I wasn’t sure that I could really make a living as a yoga therapist. So I took my psychology expertise and started working at Emory University on psychological research studies. I worked with great people and started climbing the ladder into upper level research management positions. But I never felt fulfilled. I always wanted more. I wanted to love my job. I wanted to make more money with the time I had. I wanted to feel passionate about what I was doing. And I wanted to feel more connected to my home and family.

There was just one problem. My husband and I had two children, and he was in over his head in graduate school working on his PhD. I was supposed to carry this family of four financially until he was finished with school – several long years later.

Patience, however, was not my strong point. I was determined and I decided to go for it. In October 2008, at the beginning of his third year of graduate school, we sat down with spreadsheets and talked extensively, planning out how we could make my dream job a reality. We crunched numbers, drew up a very austere monthly budget and saved everything we could. Three months later, I cut my research job down to part-time and I tried to get as many freelance writing jobs as I could. I attended writing workshops, met other writers for coffee, and brainstormed ways to make this work. I networked and was very fortunate to have some very big “ins” into the world of health writing (you know who you are!)

I worked part-time for a year, slowly building my writing portfolio, writing for major online health websites. That year, I co-authored my first book – the second edition of Making a Baby – a book about pregnancy and infertility. Then, right after Christmas 2009, I was offered a two-month contract writing about pregnancy and infertility that paid really well. The money would allow me to save up enough money to leave my day job. I took the leap and quit my day job. I was a writer!

During those first few months, I became pregnant with our third child. So here we were: a graduate student, a brand new freelance writer, and three small children. Not exactly the most secure existence imaginable.

Thankfully, my career was blossoming. I was busy. I was full. As 2010 continued, I was making a surprisingly good hourly rate. I had to turn down multiple writing jobs because I was so busy. Recruiters would call and I couldn’t even consider those offers. Two years after taking this wonderful leap, I am still full – beyond full. I am making a very satisfying income doing what I love.   

Doing what I love isn’t just about the writing or the women’s health focus, though, although I truly love my job and have a passion for these things. Doing what I love also means that I have a better work-life balance than I was able to have when I worked outside the home. As a mother of three, this is beyond valuable. While I miss the social contact of working outside of the home at times, I am so blessed and thankful that I can make a living working here at home.

World community, I believe that it is possible for you to go out and achieve your dream job. I am living proof that you CAN do it. Yes, you will have to make sacrifices. Yes, you may have to give up many things that you enjoy to make it happen. Yes, you will have to work your arse off. But as I continue on this path doing what I love, I am meeting more and more people that are finding creative and fulfilling ways to make a living doing what they love. Through telling my story here, I hope you will understand and believe that your dreams are within your reach.

Every day I pinch myself: Is this really true? Am I really so fortunate to be living my dream? Do I really get to wake up every day and do this job that I love?  Thankfully, gratefully, miraculously, yes! YES! It is real, and it is so wonderful.

So think about what it is that you love, what it is that moves you, what it is that drives you…

…And do it.

[All images by John Berg. Find out more about Britt on her website.]

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Stephanie Levy

Several years ago, while I was studying art at the University of Tennessee in the USA, I met a student from Germany, who was working on his Doctorate degree in Physics. I suppose opposites attract, and we fell in love.

My first trip abroad was to visit his family for Christmas in his hometown village in the Black Forest. It was a unique experience for me to get to know this German family and share their Christmas traditions of homemade Christmas cookies and cakes, fondue dinners, mulled wine, and German songs around the big, evergreen Christmas tree with real, lit candles. We stayed in Germany for an entire month and visited his friends in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Cologne as well.

It was a completely new experience for me, and I loved Europe right away! I loved travelling on a train and walking through the old cobblestone streets of quaint villages. I loved the food, my senses were heightened and more aware, and I felt as though even the food tasted more intensely – the butter, the bread, the eggs, the milk, the honey. We went to France, we visited castles in the Alps, it was magical.

I remember visiting a tiny, “standing room only” bakery at the subway station in Berlin to get something quick to eat. We ordered a coffee and a croissant – and the croissant was served on a real, ceramic plate and the coffee in a real, ceramic cup and saucer – even though we were just standing at the bar table to eat and drink! As an American student who was used to being served take-away food and drinks in paper or plastic, I was amazed. I remember thinking – okay, this is Europe!

We went back to the US to finish our degrees, and afterwards my boyfriend asked me if I’d like to move to Germany and get married. He told me that I could paint as easily in Europe as in the US, and with my romantic visions of spending summers painting outside in the South of France, I said yes! I was both very excited and a little scared. In June 1996, I had two suitcases packed and I was ready to fly to Berlin to begin a new life. I was so nervous at the Memphis airport, I am sure I visited the bathroom at least 10 times while waiting to board my plane.

Because German bureaucracy made it so complicated for people of different nationalities to get married, we went across the border to Denmark for a simple wedding together and had a honeymoon weekend in Copenhagen. Our married life began in a teeny, tiny apartment in former East Berlin – where at that time almost no one could speak English to me. I remember the small things – like that I couldn’t find dental floss in the stores, and we heated the apartment in winter by making fires with bricks of coal in large ceramic ovens. (Don’t worry, times have changed since then!)

As a girl from rural Tennessee, Berlin was huge, overwhelming, and terribly exciting. Eventually I signed up for German classes and I met people from all over the world who were also new to Europe and just learning the language. Many of the students were women who had also come to Germany to be with their husbands. It was fascinating to meet these women and hear their personal stories about how they had arrived in Europe. Later, we moved to the city of Heidelberg because of my husband’s work, and then we moved back to Berlin so that I could complete my Master’s degree. After several years together, our marriage eventually came to an end in Berlin. 

Luckily, I soon met my current husband Florian, who is from the Bavarian region of Germany near Munich. Florian is also an artist and it was clear from the beginning that we shared many of the same interests. Our favorite flavor of ice cream is even the same: mint chocolate chip! We both loved in Berlin and still do, but eventually we relocated to Munich because of Florian’s work. We got married here, and soon after, our daughters Sophia and Lucia came along. A happy ending to a story that had many complicated twists along the way. My road in Germany has been a sometimes bumpy one, but it has never been boring! Would I do it all over again? Definitely yes!

What is the point of my shared story? I believe we all need to embrace adventure in our lives, be open to the opportunities that come along, take chances, and trust that everything will be okay. You do sometimes have to take big leaps into the unknown before anything new can happen. This can be scary, but when you are listening to your intuition and really following your gut feelings and instincts – you make your best decisions.

Our personal destinies are full of positive and painful experiences wherever we live. You don’t have to leave your home country to have an adventurous life, but travel can open your eyes to new cultures and help you see your own culture in a different light – for better and for worse!

Sometimes it is necessary to get out of our “comfort zone” and be forced to make new choices in our daily lives. I know that living abroad has changed me as a person in a positive way. Perhaps it has made me more courageous and more open-minded, at least I certainly hope so!

This year, I turned 40 and to celebrate, I started an art/travel/interview project called 12 Countries in 12 Months  For this project, I am challenging myself to visit a new country in Europe for a few days each month this year, and so far it has been an incredible experience with many new impressions, new connections, and visual inspirations that I will remember for a lifetime.

I’m also leading ecourses to promote creativity and courage in women who are interested in discovering, exploring, and traveling on their own true, individual paths.

[Image courtesy of Stephanie Levy. To find out more about Stephanie visit her blog]

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