There is something beautiful about sharing your story. Some call it brave, even admirable, while the others look at those who share with furrowed brows. These people may call you an “over sharer.” What’s funny is I have never been one to over share. In fact, if you know me, close friends and ex boyfriends would get frustrated on just how little I would let people in.
I claimed to be a writer.
Writers let people in. We are called to share stories, whether that be our own, another’s, or a character’s. Stories can heal, teach, and move mountains. Stories allow you to look at someone else’s life in a new way, but often times it allows you to read yourself from a third perspective.
I’m inspired by women who people may think “over share.” Women who are brave to put their lives out there. Women who boldly tell their stories that someone, somewhere was just waiting to hear.
Helena Fitzgerald. Kelly Sundberg. Michelle Parise.
Three women whose stories, platforms, and words have inspired this project that I am embarking on. If I am being honest, and that’s the promise I give to you through all of this: full honesty, I am also doing this for myself too. I am not starting this newsletter in an attempt to get exposure or to even use this as a portfolio for future writing endeavors. I am starting this so I can heal. There is a story inside me that needs to be told.
I’ve been told before that I am too young to have a story. That it’s better to go through life and then to look back on the past and write about it. I agree that looking back on a situation in hindsight changes it. It allows you to have more power and you can see more clearly the wrong and the right. But there is a beauty in the presence. There is a beauty in the mess of the confusion of heartbreak. There is a beauty in talking about how you are currently finding your way instead of showing the path.
There is a vulnerability.
And that is something I am learning how to be.
Being vulnerable is strong.
Learning to love, learning to forgive. Not holding on to the parts that anger you but learning from every encounter is strong.
And these are all things I am trying to be.
So, that is what you can expect from these newsletters.
Honesty. Vulnerability. Fleeting Strength.
This isn’t a blog, it’s a letter. It is me opening up my life and thoughts to you. An intimate experience.
If you keep up with this page, there will be posts every so often.
If you subscribe (& commit to a monthly subscription), you will get to read my words weekly and frequently, and those posts will be more raw.
Thank you to all who have supported me in telling my story. Thanks to all who continue who want to read it. For more badass women who tell there stories, check out the women I mentioned above:
- Helena Fitzgerald: https://griefbacon.substack.com + @helfitzgerald
- Kelly Sundberg: https://kellysundberg.com + “Goodbye Sweet Girl” her memoir available 6/5/18.
- Michelle Parise: “Alone: A Love Story” Podcast = http://www.cbc.ca/radio/alone