Hi & Welcome - 9/15/21
Welcome to the Write & Rise blog, where I will share with you some of the wobbly bits of my life and experiences as an imperfect yet beautiful human living in an imperfect yet beautiful world in the hopes of inspiring you to be your imperfect yet beautiful self.
I’ve come to think that I was born with resilience as a core trait. I got my brown eyes, dark hair and short stature from my parents but the Universe decided to give me resilience to prepare me for the life I’m in now. Good choice, Universe.
I’ve worn many labels in my life – mixed kid, trauma survivor, journalist, nonprofit leader, psychotherapist, coach and parent – but my core identifier is resilient warrior.
Allow me to explain. Born when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (or so my kids think), I almost died before birth. As my mother tells the story, she and I were within 5 minutes of death because of the hospital’s inability to find a doctor to deliver me. Her obstetrician was not available on the day I was born – August 13 – so a general surgeon who’s never performed a Caesarean section was brought in. He practically split my mother in half (I’ve seen the scar) and introduced me to the cold world. She and I spent over 2 weeks in the hospital to allow her to recover and me to gain weight. I was signifcantly underweight because back then, nobody knew about the dangers of smoking during pregnancy.
I fought to gain the few pounds I needed. Mom said I was a picky eater from the beginning so I’m sure feeding time was no picnic for the nurses. Warrior rising.
This warrior uses writing as her weapon. It’s a tool that has built my resilience and saved my life. I’m not exaggerating. But, I’ll save that story for another post.
What else do you need to know about me aside from the fact that I’m a warrior?
· I’m an introvert, INFJ to be exact, and I’m a Highly Sensitive Person, which is a true personality trait identified by Dr. Elaine Aron. Visit www.hsperson.com for more information.
· I’m part of the Mixed Baby Club. My mother is Japanese and my father was half White and various portions of Black and Native American. Expect a future blog post about this dynamic.
· I grew up in a household where poverty, domestic violence and childhood abuse prevailed. Expect a fair amount of blog posts to be about those experiences.
· I’m the oldest of 2. My sister, who is also my very best friend, is almost 6 years younger.
· I love to learn and would be a professional student if I could. Yes, I was a geek in school, but I tried hard to be in with the cool crowd.
· I’ve had lots of careers, with all my experiences revolving around helping others. My current roles are writer, coach and therapist.
· I’m the author of the forthcoming book Be Still & Be Bold: 31 Meditations for Trauma Survivors. You can check out the Current Project page for more information.
· I am a strong believer in the unseen and unbelievable, so if you are interested in chatting about the spiritual, the woowoo and the like, hit me up.
· I meditate, walk, write, read, pray, listen to music, dance and watch cheesy, rom-comy type of movies in order to stay sane and healthy.
· I swear…a lot…so expect a few peppery words to appear in this blog.
· I have six children here on this Earth and I’ve lost two via miscarriage. This will definitely be a blog post because the experience of miscarriage needs to be expressed and normalized. Five of the 6 are in their 20s and the youngest is in her late teens.
· I am a caregiver for my mother who has Alzheimer’s Disease. A few blog posts will be devoted to this topic.
I think that’s a good list to start off with to help you get to know me. For the next few blog posts, I’m going to share about my relationship with writing and how that developed during my formative years. I hope to show how writing helped me navigate those years. I also hope what you read here will inspire, uplift and encourage you to keep going because you matter, what you do matters and the world needs you.
Write & Rise, my friends. Write & Rise.
