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Am I Haunted By The Ghosts Of Those Whom Could’ve Been?

Jeffrey Rousseau
6 min readSep 24, 2019

When I stop and think about my career motivations (writing/journalism), I wonder are they mine alone? Truth is, they probably aren’t just because I’m passionate about writing. What happens regularly when I write is I’m always thinking of others.

My thoughts are filled with the people I’ve met in life/recently that shared stories of their own aspirations and quit in these pursuits. They’ve quit for all the reasons imaginable that marginalized people often encounter: Gatekeeping, privilege, profuse competition, lack of resources, being invisible, and etc.

I suppose you can say they are like ghost haunting me. I think of the what may have been. The incredible work these people could've done, that the world won't see because of how unfair things are constantly.

Credit: Inc.com

I’ll be blunt and say I often find myself frustrated with my career prospects and projection. Opportunities to be heard and regularly seen requires Herculean efforts. I’ve seen these efforts from friends and mutuals only to be rewarded for the smallest of returns. This year alone, I too found myself working to near points of exhaustion after my primary job just to write. Why…

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Jeffrey Rousseau
Jeffrey Rousseau

Written by Jeffrey Rousseau

Award winning journalist, committed to amplifying marginalized voices, and elevating the accuracy and quality of reporting.

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