Thank you for this beautiful transparent post. Been feeling the same in regards to my writing practice but didn't have the words to articulate my sentiments. Thank you for the encouragement to lean on prompts and also creating space to be honest. Writing is a form of honesty and transparency and the best tool to reckon with ourselves. Beautiful space you have created. xo
Ironically, I don’t have the energy to explain all the ways I needed this writing from you today. But know I cried and it made a difference and thank you
Thank you for saying all of this -- I feel it too, and avoid the blank page when I should be wrapping myself in it. I love all of your prompts. Here is my life story in exactly one sentence:
Midwest girl trapped by Jesus runs away to San Francisco and tries to write Him/it/them out of her system; gives birth to an atheist daughter and flees to Portugal to keep the Christians' claws off her.
Everything you said resonates..I hate prompts (probably because I don’t like being confronted with having to answer lol) but if I’m not writing in my journal it’s definitely something deep seated that I don’t want to tell the truth about. Can’t lie in my journal, she won’t let me. I find my way in by stream of consciousness writing. No punctuation gets me there. These days are so f**king weird...
Thank you for writing this. I’ve been grappling with similar thoughts too. I’m resistant to writing prompts, though i’m not sure why ha! maybe that is worth exploring. When I feel like I have nothing left to say, more often than not i find it’s all a swirly mess in my head and I haven’t sat down long enough without picking up the remote, without being pulled by the next thought, impulse or doom scroll that leads from one thing to the next. I walk to the kitchen for a specific reason and I forget why i went there in the first place 🤣. Too many things competing for my attention and robs me of my focus. These days i’m trying to focus on my focus and when I feel like there’s nothing left to say it’s usually because i’ve haven’t sat long enough to focus and find my flow.
Longest running relationship: She has kept me accountable in a way that most society reserves for romantic relationships. Sometimes I feel like she has a super computer brain keeping track on the intimate workings of my journey. Reflecting what parts of it I may not be honest about now. Sometimes in the moment I hate her for it. But it is the most precious gift in the world.
Jun 15, 2023·edited Jun 15, 2023Liked by Yrsa Daley-Ward
Hi. I am in the shallow end of my 40's, though some days it feels like the deep end of my 40's. The lines on my face are getting deeper, the skin on my neck looser. Almost overnight my cheeks disappeared and my eyes sunk into my head. Sometimes, I wonder if they are going to disappear into my skull. I'm tired, mostly. And, I have no tolerance for things outside of my routine. I worked hard for my routine - if its disrupted, I erupt. My mom said my 40's would bring these changes, she wasn't wrong. I'm a perimenopausal introvert/extrovert going through my second puberty. I feel prepubescent. The tears are always skimming the surface. I like people, I really do, but some days I think they are insensitive and uptight a#%holes. They make me wanna grind my ax and I have several axes.
I feel this so deeply. What I wish people understood about me is how desperately I want to feel safe with others, not despite of my intense thoughts and feelings, but because of them.
Thank you for this beautiful transparent post. Been feeling the same in regards to my writing practice but didn't have the words to articulate my sentiments. Thank you for the encouragement to lean on prompts and also creating space to be honest. Writing is a form of honesty and transparency and the best tool to reckon with ourselves. Beautiful space you have created. xo
This is quite literally all the jumbles in my head put proper.
Holly I love you! xxx
Ironically, I don’t have the energy to explain all the ways I needed this writing from you today. But know I cried and it made a difference and thank you
Thank you for saying all of this -- I feel it too, and avoid the blank page when I should be wrapping myself in it. I love all of your prompts. Here is my life story in exactly one sentence:
Midwest girl trapped by Jesus runs away to San Francisco and tries to write Him/it/them out of her system; gives birth to an atheist daughter and flees to Portugal to keep the Christians' claws off her.
LaDonna I LOVE your sentence. It feels like a novel xxx
Everything you said resonates..I hate prompts (probably because I don’t like being confronted with having to answer lol) but if I’m not writing in my journal it’s definitely something deep seated that I don’t want to tell the truth about. Can’t lie in my journal, she won’t let me. I find my way in by stream of consciousness writing. No punctuation gets me there. These days are so f**king weird...
These days! Just squeezing the truth out of us aren't they? x
Thank you for writing this. I’ve been grappling with similar thoughts too. I’m resistant to writing prompts, though i’m not sure why ha! maybe that is worth exploring. When I feel like I have nothing left to say, more often than not i find it’s all a swirly mess in my head and I haven’t sat down long enough without picking up the remote, without being pulled by the next thought, impulse or doom scroll that leads from one thing to the next. I walk to the kitchen for a specific reason and I forget why i went there in the first place 🤣. Too many things competing for my attention and robs me of my focus. These days i’m trying to focus on my focus and when I feel like there’s nothing left to say it’s usually because i’ve haven’t sat long enough to focus and find my flow.
Nailed it.
I'll come back to those questions, just gotta check what's new on YouTube real quick...
Ha! are we related?
Longest running relationship: She has kept me accountable in a way that most society reserves for romantic relationships. Sometimes I feel like she has a super computer brain keeping track on the intimate workings of my journey. Reflecting what parts of it I may not be honest about now. Sometimes in the moment I hate her for it. But it is the most precious gift in the world.
Hi. I am in the shallow end of my 40's, though some days it feels like the deep end of my 40's. The lines on my face are getting deeper, the skin on my neck looser. Almost overnight my cheeks disappeared and my eyes sunk into my head. Sometimes, I wonder if they are going to disappear into my skull. I'm tired, mostly. And, I have no tolerance for things outside of my routine. I worked hard for my routine - if its disrupted, I erupt. My mom said my 40's would bring these changes, she wasn't wrong. I'm a perimenopausal introvert/extrovert going through my second puberty. I feel prepubescent. The tears are always skimming the surface. I like people, I really do, but some days I think they are insensitive and uptight a#%holes. They make me wanna grind my ax and I have several axes.
I feel this so deeply. What I wish people understood about me is how desperately I want to feel safe with others, not despite of my intense thoughts and feelings, but because of them.
One sentence,
Born and abandoned, books saved them, so they made more (that might save others)
Stove-popped popcorn and The Ultimatum: Queer Love. Now everyone knows ... and my journal still sits untouched.
Ooooh! 👏🏿 I'm about to get started on The Ultimatum: Queer Love and I can't bloody wait! xxx
Thank you, as always Yrsa, for sharing yourself.
Some questions:
- What is your idea of perfect happiness?
-What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? What is the trait you most deplore in others?
-What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
- On what occasion do you lie?
- Which talent would you most like to have?
Great post & great questions 🙏🏻
Thank you Satya!
What a wonderful post! You’ve articulated something I feel from time to time but can’t easily express. I must write more! Glad to have found you ❤️
And here I thought I was the only one!😎