What Marks Your Identity?
Will Olympic athletes forever be known as Olympians? Or will gold medalists wear that title for the rest of their lives? Many will do great things beyond their competitive years, but what will be the mark that defines them? How about you? Is what you do, who you are? Does a career or an accomplishment, mark your identity? And are you content to let it?
It took five years after I retired, before I began saying “I’m a writer,” rather than, “I’m a retired physical education teacher.” My teaching career had a timeline. Once I hit the finish line, I was . . . finished. There is no such timeline for writers. Once a writer, always a writer. This profession called to me in the third grade. It quit calling for fifty years because I had convinced it I would pursue it after retirement. It called again when I bought a motorhome and started traveling.
What began as a retirement dream has become a second career—one that costs more than it pays and asks more of me than I ever imagined. With seventy-five blog posts behind me, one book published and a second underway, I can’t quit. I’m not writing because I have a large audience waiting, or a paycheck attached. I write because writers write. That’s what we do. Writing shapes me as much as I shape it.
My friend and mentor, Chip Bell, said it this way: “We write, not because we have to, not because we like to, but because we need to. It is part of who we are.”
Let me ask you, what I’m asking myself. What do you feel compelled to continue, even when it costs you? Why do you keep showing up? Is your work molding you into the person you hope to become? What marks your identity?
Perhaps the mark we leave begins with the work we refuse to abandon.
Thanks for being a part of this journey!
If you enjoyed reading this blog, I’d love your support in growing this community! Please share this with your friends, family, or anyone who might find it interesting. Your shares help me reach more people to help them find their joy.
Joy M. Walker
February 26, 2026 @ 5:50 pm
This is spot on! I still have trouble saying “I’m a writer.” when people ask me what I do! I’m having cards made up with my name, email, phone number, website, to hand out when I meet people. These cards will describe me as a writer!!
February 26, 2026 @ 8:59 pm
Someone at the first writing conference I attended at the Georgia Writers Museum told me if I write, I’m a writer. That was the second or third time I had heard someone say that, so I tried to embrace it. It still took a couple of years of writing, but it finally started coming out of my mouth. Forced at first, but it’s getting easier to say now. Good for you. The cards are a great idea. You are a writer!
February 26, 2026 @ 7:37 pm
I really liked the questions at the end. Very thought-provoking.
February 26, 2026 @ 9:00 pm
Thanks for sharing, Julie. I have thought about those questions a lot lately.
February 27, 2026 @ 9:54 am
You are right, it can take a long time to own our gifts. I am a calligrapher. Words are precious and powerful to me, yet in a different presentation than they are to you. My “artistic” talent may have come from my family line, but what I do – or do not do – with it depends on who I am and what I choose to do with it. I cannot quit . . . I cannot abandon.
February 27, 2026 @ 3:43 pm
Good to know you feel the same way. Can’t quit. Don’t quit making book covers either;)
February 27, 2026 @ 4:37 pm
Also as a retired teacher, I am compelled to give more time to my church and sharing the Good News. We are blessed to have been given permission several years ago the privilege of an after school bible program called Good News Club, on Tuesdays. On Wednesdays, I am blessed to help my husband cook a meal for church members and visitors before evening church service. We also are part of a rotation for Wednesday night kids lesson as well as Sunday kids church lessons. Summer vacation is usually a mission trip to Guatemala.
As a child of God, I try my best to be available as often as I can. I would really like to get out and travel more, but in this season, God has a purpose for me.
Love reading your posts, and I know you are making a difference, Joy, in the season God has planned for you.
BTW… that t-shirt quilt looks comfy! 🙂
February 28, 2026 @ 4:02 pm
Love how giving you are of your time, Sherry. Thanks for posting here too.
Bet the quilt looks familiar too? We should have had Debbie make one for you too. It’s perfect for my tiny house.
February 27, 2026 @ 6:19 pm
My identity has always been about who I am not what I’ve done, or what I’m doing, probably because I was a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mom, a Nonna, a granddaughter, an Aunt, a cousin, a best friend; labels that mean so much to me as family is everything. I am proud to be the best that I can be with each of those labels. Taking on a different identity depending on who is standing beside me or in front of me.
I’ve held jobs but they never were what identified me. My family loves when I write, so I’ve been writing. I’ve been working on a book about my mom. Writing through a platform called storyworth, which charges me $60 a year. A book that should have been done in 1 year is now on year 4. Thankfully my mom is worth it. Trying to write after a major tragedy in life as grief is surging through every thought, has been a true challenge for me; but here I am , finding the words, putting them down, and writing, because if I am anything extra, I’m a writer 😉
February 28, 2026 @ 4:04 pm
Well said, Donna. Can’t wait to see that book in your hands, and then of course in mine. Keep being you and keep writing.
March 3, 2026 @ 10:08 pm
I suspect your thoughts apply to all creative people. I smiled reading this because I still have trouble calling myself an artist, yet I cannot stop being one. Such fun to contemplate
March 11, 2026 @ 7:04 pm
Happy to hear I’m not the only one. I still have a hard time calling myself an athlete or a cyclist. My struggle comes from the fact that I sat the bench in high school, didn’t play sports in college, and have never competed in the Tour de France. You are clearly an artist!