Meet Patrick Johnson | Film & Culture Content Creator & Electrical Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patrick Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patrick, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Having the proper work life balance is incredibly important. As I’ve gotten older the construct of a healthy work life balance has become more and more important to me. When I first began my technical career straight out of college, I worked non-stop and took every opportunity for overtime that I could, even at the expense of spending time with loved ones. I did this because I believed it was what I needed to do in order to prove my worth in my workplace and show my superiors the caliber of employee I was in order to set myself apart from the rest. Nowadays I realize the fault in my younger self’s way of thinking, as although I was excelling at work, every other aspect of my life suffered greatly. I put nothing above my loved ones now, and spending quality time with them when and however I can. The scales tip heavily in their favor always. It is, in essence, the best properly improper balance there can be.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
By profession I am an electrical engineer and a real estate investor, and have been so since 2017. By passion I am a content creator with a focus on Film & Culture, as I do movie reviews and provide perspectives on the many aspects of cinema as well as the culture and news that surrounds it. I have loved film since before I can honestly remember, as many of my fondest memories from being young revolve around the silver screen. From being a kid and watching episodes of SVU with my mother during the day to having the responsibility of picking the movie of the night for my grandmother and I on her nightly treadmill jogs, television shows and movies permeate nearly every happy memory I have as far back as I can remember. My grandfather loved the television, and would spend most of his days watching Little House on the Prairie reruns over and over again, and as the parents in the show got older and the children grew on-screen, my family and I were slowly aging and growing as well. His favorite holiday film, if you can even call it that, was Craig Baxley’s 1999 Storm of the Century miniseries, and I spent many long winter nights unable to sleep because of it. I miss those nights now, as I miss him, and would give anything in the entire world to be that frightened kid on the sofa again. Film has the unique ability to draw us in, if only for a small amount of time, and hold us in a nearly complete suspension of belief. I started my brand I Am Written because I found that I simply loved talking about how different movies made me feel, and I knew that I couldn’t be the only one who got this level of joy from these experiences. I’ve learned that no matter what, staying true to your journey and what you set out to do will ultimately always steer you in the right direction and keep you on track. I could say that I work day and night to further my brand, but that wouldn’t be true as I don’t consider my efforts as they pertain to film and the content I create as work. It’s fun for me, and if it ever began to not be, than I think it would be an indication that it’s time to go back to the drawing board and fix whatever has become unbalanced. Nothing in life worth having is ever going to be easy to acquire, and you can be sure it’s probably going to be even harder to hold onto. If I’ve learned one thing it’s this – Life happens, regardless of if you want it to, or not, So take part, stay ten toes down, and don’t let anyone write your story for you. I don’t know if my story will be one that’s worth reading when it’s done, but I do my best everyday to make sure that it’s definitely one worth living.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh, this is going to be an easy one. So if there’s one benefit to staying in Midtown Atlanta, it’s that there is always something fun and completely out of the ordinary to do. I love foods from all over the world, and in a place like Atlanta you get everything in almost any variation and amount you can handle. Whenever family or friends visit, I always start off by asking them if they like nice, long strolls in the park. If the answer is yes I will immediately follow up with asking if they’re up for a brisk walk and a bit of exercise. I am of course leading to my destination of choice being the Belt Line, which stretches across our ever-changing city and continues to get longer as the days go on. There are tons of fantastic places along this trail, including Ponce City Market, and the Old Fourth Ward Skate Park, as well as food and drink options for the hungry passerby. On a lighter and less active note, I am a bit of an old soul and enjoy quiet tunes and poetry, as well as live performances of the various art genres, so the Apache Cafe, formerly of 3rd St NW, is always another destination of mine if the event of the night suits the occasion.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I know there are people who do truly amazing things with little to no support, and that has not at all been the case in my life. There’s really nothing in my story that I could’ve achieved to date without the support of my family and friends. My family has always believed in whatever it was I set out to do, and my friends offer yielding ears for all of my “around the sun and back again ideas”. There are of course significant parts of my journey that I have had to do and conquer on my own merit but knowing that those people are there for me either on the other side or back at the starting line always makes those things just a bit easier to manage. My partner in life and crime for the past 5 years has played an incredibly significant role in my outlook on life these past few years and has made me want a lot more for myself than I think I ever did prior to meeting her. I do my best in all of my endeavors to win and succeed not just for myself but for these individuals as well.

Website: https://bio.site/aB5zao

Instagram: www.Instagram.com/WrittenFlows

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-johnson-672691b7/

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/WrittenFlows

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComicalWritten

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/writtenflows

Other: Patreon https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=12502344 Merch Store https://teespring.com/stores/writtens-duka

Image Credits
All image credits due to @WrittenFlows (myself) Professional headshot credits due to Joshua Jacobs @jacobsdigitalconcepts