Our stories
“The first step in the restoration of a people, is the restoring of their stories. Reminding them of who they are.”
- Joel Mckerrow
Today is the final day of a journey that has carried me through the last three weeks. A couple of months ago, a wonderful and ever talented friend invited me to a poetry workshop/gathering at her lovely home. There, I finally got to meet, hear and hug Joel McKerrow in person, an individual that has touched more lives than he could ever imagine and somehow found his way over here, where I happened to be. It was at this event, where I pushed myself from my comfort zone into the abyss of creativity, that he offered me a free mentor ship package for his writing and creativity course, A Clearing In The Forest.
I don’t think there will ever be a way to show what this has meant to me, that he looked at me and my broken self, and offered me that delicious hope. This course has coincidently brought me through a time in my personal life that has been emotionally challenging. I know I appear to be very open and vulnerable, and while that most certainly is true. There is a lot I feel lost about. And so that was the word I chose to focus on in the lessons of this online course. Lost and found. And lost have I felt! But more than that I’ve discovered so many lost little souls that wander around me, both my own past selves and people I know in the present. I think it’s when you lose yourself, naked and bleeding in the forest that you find what you really ache for, what you desire to be your purpose. I’ve cried, I’ve smiled and I’ve written pieces I never thought I would. I have been helped and held so many times, so many hands have picked me up as I fell and I truly cannot live my life not trying to do the same. It would be a disservice to not only them, but this body that works so hard just to keep me afloat, even though I don’t credit it for that nearly enough. I have so many things planned, so many projects behind curtains, all I need now is to slowly start rebuilding.
I have been surrounded by such wonderful souls these past three weeks, read so many stories that remind me mine is not the only one that should be told. Reminding me that so many people are silenced due to fear, but when pushed to the edge of the cliff face, call out their truth into the wind.
And it is beautiful.
I feel so humbled to have been a part of something so moving. So thank you to so many tonight, so many. You guys remind me to put pride down, and dig deeper into truth. It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but also the one full of that delicious hope, of a new chapter.
I want to keep reaching out on here, I don’t interact nearly as much as I always want to, but I’m here now and I’m determined to stay, to tell my stories and to listen to yours.
A fellow lost girl,
Hope
“Sometimes magic doesn’t come from talent, it comes from pain.”
- The magicians
Use it my lovely’s, use it well.
