My Name is Barb — And Liz Dared Me to Write This
I still need 100 followers to meet the new deadline, and I could use your help!
So here I am, freshly retired and reinventing myself yet again.
I could list the various incarnations I’ve had in just this one lifetime, but it would sound like a CV. Instead, I’d love to tell you a little about my inner world.
You know that thing you do that gives you joy? That thing you can’t wait to get back to that makes time disappear, so you look up after what you thought would be half an hour, and the whole afternoon has gone by?
That’s been writing for me.
However, I’ve also had a powerful saboteur inside, that voice that says, “Just hideaway.” It’s too much trouble to put yourself out there. You wrote that thing once, and see, hardly anyone read it.
“They won’t get it. Blah, blah, blah.”
An internal shift has allowed me to turn away from that saboteur and make a real commitment to myself and the sharing of my writing. It’s time to express myself to the world fully. The things I write about and the way I write seem to resonate and inspire people who are into personal growth.
People who are ready to look a little deeper into old patterns that may be keeping them stuck and preventing them from leading more vibrant lives. I’m not here to instruct, simply to share. I love this quote by the poet Rumi:
“Don’t be satisfied with stories; how things have gone for others. Unfold your own myth.”
I had recently invested a substantial amount of money for an online course about writing articles for publications, and I found Medium through that. This course asks, “What’s the bottom line? Why are you doing this?” The answer is neither fame nor riches. Instead, it’s a kind of heart-burst to share in the hope that it might resonate with others and perhaps drop in a little piece of their jigsaw puzzle on their journey.
This seems a little like Liz Porter’s answer for starting up this wonderful Boomerang publication:
“I feel compelled to help newer writers on the platform”
I have a unique perspective and so much to share. It’s time to say it out loud to someone who’ll listen. (Can you sense some old history there? Unfortunately, I can’t find the Wry-Smile emoji, but you get the drift.)
I’m also excited to be developing a new online or in-person course based on some of the scenarios in my book ‘Good Choice — A Soul’s Story.’ I’ll be announcing this through my blog and newsletter, which, at the time of writing, have a small following.
I’d prefer NOT to launch my course to crickets, so I’d love to find a wider audience of people interested in inner work and their ‘soul story.’ Contributing to Medium seems like a holistic and organic way to grow my audience. Given that money is not my goal, I could, of course, keep writing for free, but it seems that some part-time fun money would be a fitting result for the time invested.
I’ve decided to write guest articles like it’s a new part-time job, keep at it for about six months and see where it leads me. This is different from the former me, who was into instant gratification and gave up if something spectacular didn’t happen immediately.
I write personal stories told with awareness and humour. My topics so far include; consciously aware dating, reparenting the inner child and choosing which news vibration to align with. When I first started, I thought I’d have nothing to write about, but now my head feels like it’s about to explode with all the ideas coming through!
Here’s a link to one of my serial stories. It had my friends asking, “Barb, Barb, Quick! When’s the next one coming? What happens next?”
Again, thank you Liz, for developing this Boomerang community, for generously inviting new writers like me, for daring me to write this personal introduction and for your clever plan to support us in gaining more followers.
