On second brains and repackaging wisdom 💛
I think I've found my Something Larger.
I shared my Something Larger the other day, and not just between me and a friend sipping coffee on the porch, but on a podcast interview. That means it will be heard by hundreds, maybe thousands of people, making it pretty real. It felt good to speak it out loud, all the while acknowledging that I have the right to change my mind about it at any time. Don’t forget that bit, OK? That we have the right to change our minds? 😊
To recap, our Something Larger (nod to Emily and Amelia Nagoski and their book, Burnout) helps us create meaning in our lives. It’s that big thing that unites the little things. It’s the reason behind the choices we make.
So, what did I land on?
My Something Larger is to make sense of my world and to use storytelling to repackage the wisdom I’ve learned into a form that’s easier for others to understand and explore for themselves.
Yesterday, I popped into my daughter’s classroom virtually to spend time with the kids and read The Wonders That I Find with them. After I read them the book, we had a Q&A and they fired off their questions to me at a feverish pace only eight-year-olds can sustain. Gosh, they’re smart. One question stood out to me: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
The truthful answer is that I don’t know exactly. Storytelling has been such a big part of my life, for a long time, and in many forms. As a kid, I was often writing books and putting on plays. I have always loved reading. I’ve been a movie buff for as long as I can remember. I spent four years studying theatre at Queen’s University. When I graduated several key people in my life, including a few professors, encouraged me to pursue a career in writing and editing. Yet, beyond this external evidence that I was meant to be a storyteller, there has been something happening deep inside for a long time.
My husband, a photographer, tells me he has a second brain going at all times that looks for photo potential. I can tell that something has caught his eye as we drive country roads or hike along an alpine lake. Sometimes we’ll be sitting outside on the porch and he’ll drift off mid-conversation, his eyes fixating on the way the light is filtering through the clouds. 💠It’s the same for me, but with words and stories. I form sentences out of experiences while I’m in them. I have ideas for introductions and lead sentences when I’m in the shower. I’ll be chopping vegetables and have an aha moment that gets me washing my hands to peck away at my keyboard.
And one thing I love about storytelling is that it can take so many shapes and forms. I’m constantly learning. My dive into memoir writing has caught me by surprise. It’s been one of the hardest, most vulnerable projects I’ve ever undertaken. It’s calling me to flex my writing muscles but to also dig deep emotionally to bring my readers as whole and truthful a story as I can create.
And so it turns out that this entire Substack, which I call Field Notes, is aligned with my Something Larger as I attempt to repackage some of the wisdom I’ve learned along this exciting journey I’m on. I trust it is intersecting with you at just the right time.
If you know your Something Larger I’d love to hear from you in the comments or as a reply to this Substack!
What’s caught my attention lately… ✨
10 Books About Residential Schools to Read with Your Kids - Many of us are reeling after the discovery of the remains of 215 children at a Residential School on the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in Kamloops, B.C. This is only a small part of the greater tragedy that occurred in our nation with the forced removal of Indigenous Peoples from their land, the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families in an effort to assimilate them, and other atrocities. It is unfathomable. I feel compelled to find ways of speaking to my own children about it, starting with some of these books. It is a small step on a great journey to learn how to stand with Indigenous Peoples and commit to the calls to action set forth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Check these out too… 🙌
*NEW* Mailing List - Memoir - Talk about laying tracks before the train! Join my list to find out more about the travelogue/memoir coming out Fall 2022.
The Wonders That I Find - My children’s book is now available! 🌿
My Email Newsletter - Yes, different from Substack. This newsletter is for specific updates about my books and various projects.
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