Disability, labels, identity: Tying it all back to writing

My phone number has been given away to several companies throughout my time with my current cell phone provider. This morning, I got a call meant for someone who had rented a car and then asked to be upgraded to a different model. Because I was didn’t recognize the number, I didn’t answer, and the call went to my voicemail. So, when I discovered the voicemail, I did what any reasonable person would do:

I paused my writing and called the company, a conversation lasting only a few moments, to let them know they had the wrong number. I didn’t want someone to be stuck waiting for a pickup in a rental car that would never come.

That conversation got me thinking about my identity and how it all blends and bleeds into my writing process. Throughout my life, I’ve been labeled many different ways. My doctors refer to me as disabled, a label I’ve always hated because I prefer a person-first view of disability. (I often joke with friends that to call me “disabled” makes me sound like a malfunctioning electrical component. I hate being dehumanized that way. I prefer the human centric “person with a disability”, because my disability is only a piece of my identity and doesn’t define me.)

How we identify is often one of the most important aspects about us; everything we do ultimately centers around who we are and what we do. As I continue to press in on my journey of becoming an entrepreneur and ministering to others with my writing, I’m forced to think about how I identify within the professional sphere as well as my personal one.

I’m working on establishing web hosting for this blog as well as an LLC to protect myself as an author. It’s a complicated process that I’m still waist deep in, not to mention still working on my book series and my coursework for the program that’s helping me to develop all of this.

Which leads me to the journey of finding out who I am beyond my faith and how I want to define myself. It’ll sound very Christian-ese of me to say that I see myself as a warrior and a scribe for the Kingdom of God, but it is the closest thing to the truth I can find and relate to. I’ve always seen myself carrying both a pen and a sword; fighting through the darkness of this world with God on my side. Now, I just need to figure out how it all translates and finish the work.

What will it take for you to do the same?