This is the essay I needed to read today. I so appreciate your saying that "endurance is the part we don't celebrate." It's a different realm than the form of endurance than you are speaking of, but, having lost a job I dearly loved three months ago, I am in a period where I must endure. Just getting up every day, keeping my mind strong, and continuing the search are demanding more from me than I sometimes feel I can possibly do. And yet I trudge onward. It's easy to feel unseen in the accomplishment that I know that is. Because this endurance is not glamorous and it is not what our society rewards or celebrates or even sees.
I also appreciate the encouragement to write before it's all sorted or the inspiration comes. I embrace that idea intellectually, but I struggle to integrate it emotionally and act on it. It is, as you named, fear that holds me back. I also am stilled by my disgust at the performative nature of the creator culture. There's so much noise that I dread just adding more. I wonder if I do actually have anything worthwhile to say. It seems like it's all being said - and more. However, I was very struck by what you said here:
"For those of us whose voices have been historically marginalized or silenced, the cost is even steeper. Every day we don’t write is a day that someone else’s story dominates the narrative."
Etienne, this comes to me at a crucial moment. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I needed this today. Thank you.
🙏🏽
This is the essay I needed to read today. I so appreciate your saying that "endurance is the part we don't celebrate." It's a different realm than the form of endurance than you are speaking of, but, having lost a job I dearly loved three months ago, I am in a period where I must endure. Just getting up every day, keeping my mind strong, and continuing the search are demanding more from me than I sometimes feel I can possibly do. And yet I trudge onward. It's easy to feel unseen in the accomplishment that I know that is. Because this endurance is not glamorous and it is not what our society rewards or celebrates or even sees.
I also appreciate the encouragement to write before it's all sorted or the inspiration comes. I embrace that idea intellectually, but I struggle to integrate it emotionally and act on it. It is, as you named, fear that holds me back. I also am stilled by my disgust at the performative nature of the creator culture. There's so much noise that I dread just adding more. I wonder if I do actually have anything worthwhile to say. It seems like it's all being said - and more. However, I was very struck by what you said here:
"For those of us whose voices have been historically marginalized or silenced, the cost is even steeper. Every day we don’t write is a day that someone else’s story dominates the narrative."
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.
I’m glad it resonated with you!
Thank you! ✨🙏🏽✨