Writing Through Pain: How Mentorship Helped Two Sisters Rebuild Their Lives

In a world that often fails to understand the power of the written word, here’s a chapter from my mentorship diaries that shows how writing and mentorship can genuinely make a difference in an individual’s life, provided they’re willing to make a change.

A Call That Changed Everything

It was a few years ago (2021), a young lady called me on my phone, inquiring about my mentorship services. She spoke calmly and asked about my mentorship program, including its duration and fees, and made a decision quickly. She paid the fees, and our mentorship journey began. One session at a time, we started working on simple yet effective tools for writing effectively.

Writing as a Catalyst for Personal Transformation

Much to my surprise, during the writing program (by the second/ third session), she started evolving – with every little word she researched, wrote, and rewrote, the focus and dedication she brought to her writing assignments, and her presence in the sessions, where she asked questions, completed all tasks on time, and worked diligently as possible. It was as if a butterfly was breaking free from its cocoon, and she was ready to spread her wings and take flight!

From Grief to Growth: Overcoming Life’s Challenges

At the start of our mentorship program, she mentioned that she had recently lost her parents. Since she was the primary caregiver for them, she’s now finding time to resume her life. Usually, I refrain from probing when someone shares a snippet from their personal life; I acknowledge it and let it be.

As the months progressed, so did she. She began to become more vibrant and effervescent, more joyful and full of laughter. During one of our sessions, she shared that her mother was a Schizophrenia patient and her father had a long, prolonged terminal illness; she and her sister stayed back in their hometown in Uttar Pradesh to look after them, running the family carpet business while their other siblings (they were all very close and a loving family), were living in different cities as they were working and had kids.

She mentioned how, within one year, both her parents passed away, and she was left with nothing to look forward to. She was in a state of inertia as suddenly, from a caregiver, she was left with no one to care for. Not only that, all the stress, trauma and painful moments she went through with her mother having those Schizophrenia attacks had completely shaken her up from within.

The Power of Mentorship

Eventually, she wrote an article about her experience with her mother, which helped her gain closure from the past. She loved my writing program so much that she got her sister enrolled, too, and I’ve never seen two sisters as dedicated to a course as they were, eager and focused on restarting their lives.

Funnily enough, when her sister enrolled at her request, she gave me a list of things she didn’t want to do and didn’t want to write. All I did was say, ‘That’s fine, let’s just begin…’. After a couple of sessions, I was delighted to see when she said, “Bring it on, Tanya…tell me what I can write about. Give me a topic, and I’ll do it!”

Gradually, they relocated to Pune and began taking on consulting roles with digital marketing agencies, attending client meetings and creating content for clients. The evolution these sisters have undergone has been marvellous.

And would you believe it? For a photo essay assignment for our writing mentorship program, the sisters planned and executed a road trip from Pune to their hometown in Uttar Pradesh. They documented their journey, took pictures, and were thrilled with this incredibly liberating experience. I was worried initially, but the sisters assured me that they love driving, and this was a chance for them to rediscover and revisit their carefree days.

Power of Mentorship through Writing

That’s when I realised that with the right mentorship, we can really move mountains. Most of the time, the mountains we carry are nothing but the burdens of our past, traumas, the hurt, or the self-built walls that we create and harbour for years. We seldom let it go because we’re afraid that if we let the past go, what will we live with? What if something worse creeps in? With writing mentorship, we rewire this thought process and allow ourselves, our minds, and our subconscious to explore and be accepting of the possibilities of the infinite, the possibilities of something better, good, and positive taking place. I have never been happier than watching these sisters take flight and restart life.

Writing: An Undervalued Superpower

Writing has always been an undervalued skill. I’ve worked in corporate settings, and if you’ve had a good manager, they’ll consider you an asset for being able to write well, as that’s one of the key elements to managing customers or clients for critical communication. If the manager lacks maturity, they’re likely to sideline you, making fun of the fact that you’re just a ‘content writer’, implying there’s no room in an IT space.

During my mentorship journey, I always tell my mentees to never underestimate the power of well-written words; they can really help you overcome personal challenges and rewrite your personal narrative into a more successful one.

We spend so much time on social media (which is free but costs us our time and mental well-being) that if we only invest that time into a good mentorship program, we can really upskill and upscale ourselves both professionally and personally.

If you’re keen to explore our writing mentorship and coaching services, here’s where you can find us – The Write Compass.