Stories matter. Yours. Mine. Those of others.
But how do we tell the most difficult stories, the wrenching ones, the ones we’ve tucked away to carry on in survival mode?
You know the stories I’m talking about. The untold ones that become what Maya Angelou calls that burden in their bearing, or the ones that tug at the heart like a small child on that shirt-tail trying to get your attention. How do you bring to light the stories that have made you the courageous soul you’ve become, those silenced secrets that family and friends have begged you, at times, to keep to yourself?
“Get over it.”
“Let it go.”
“Hold that grin.”
“Look good, at all costs.”
“I’m at peace. Stop asking and prodding me about that.”
“Get over yourself…
…and don’t you dare write about it.”
What are you willing to risk to tell the stories burning inside?
To broach taboo subjects, such as suicide and crimes of abuse and extreme losses of all kinds.
To share the unspeakable, hoping the telling itself holds the power to help and to heal others…
…to offer that extraordinary gift of empathy.
These questions prompt the works-in-progress in these pages.
And they beget the bold answer: Tell.