Embracing Vulnerability: My Substack Journey to Self-Discovery

Unmasking the Power of Authenticity

Transcript for the video:

Hello. It's me, Angie, and I wanted to complete a goal that I had for the week, and that was to come on to Substack and create a post. And I have a business, which is a product based business, and so I have entered my busy season. And so what that busy season causes me to do I have to be making inside of my studio. I make soap and candles and all of the great things that we need for bathing and part of the relaxation ritual. And but it causes me to really put my all hands end the business working. And I tell myself that we are going to just work very hard doing this marathon. And after the marathon, then we're gonna slow down and do all the things that we want to do that I feel, will pivot my, life in a space that I I want it to go.

And with that being said, I write in my journal because I'm so analog. I love the feel of the pen and the paper, and so many people can process on the computer. It is very hard for me, but that's something that I wanna train myself to be able to do. And I feel like I'll be able to do that because I am right now, during a trial period of Rightspace, if you have not, heard of that community hear on Substack. It's Helen's word. She is here on Substack, and that's how I found her rightspace. On Monday, I was able to attend a live writing session, And that was really, really eye opening for me. I was a little nervous because I've had some situations that happened to me during my very 1st semester at college, I wanted to go to school, to become a writer.

And my first paper that I turned in, my essay. The teacher told me that I couldn't write. I failed it. And so I just stopped writing. And I've been working on this post that I wanted to write to really explain my trepidation of coming on Substack. I've been here since April. I've been watching. At first, I was like, I don't know.

And then I went with another outfit that I added to my blog space that is really similar to Substack, but what I started really enjoying enjoying Substack was that it was really a community. And at the end of the day, we can have all these different types of, apps and and gadgets that can allow you to build your own island, but oftentimes, you'll remain on it alone. And what I really enjoyed about I am enjoying about Substack is the community and the rapid growth and the support that people are giving. Because there's a lot of vitriol in the world right now, a lot of people who are super humble and really trying to find and maintain that glimmer of light and hope, They're the ones that I am looking for and that are seeking other people like myself online to support their work, and so here I am. But one of the things that I learned on Monday in Rightspace was earlier that day, I had put a prompt out in my threads post about today's prompt is masks. Right? The mask. And so I realized once I got into the Zoom room with everyone. Everyone was saying they were writing basically for, the academic community.

And that really trigger a little bit of trauma for me because that is where my whole breakdown happened for me. And I eventually taught at a community college, and it was college survival skills, but I love that because it was my I I was able to help students just really find their passion. And so I I wasn't scared that, like, the community college was the, you know, the the the steps to get to, like, you know, big universities. So there wasn't really a lot of trigger for me there, but going into this space, I realized that I just started putting on a mask. Like, I I thought, okay. I don't know if this is the community for me. Everything's gonna be so rigid. It's gonna be so tight, and, everything's gonna be referenced.

And, you know I just like, I'm not here for that right now. I'm into, like, collaging and and finding, myself again. I feel like I'm at this period in my life where I'm like, oh my goodness. What happened to that young girl that loved to collage and cut and glue and paste and write and do all the things for free. Free meaning, like, without anyone else's opinion put in it. So here I am in this space that I signed up for, and, like, I don't know. And so I've been forcing myself to communicate and to show up in spaces. And so when we were in breakout rooms, Helen came around to especially the group I was in because we're new.

And we just had this really, heartfelt conversation amongst the 4 of us in the group, and she asked for a volunteer to read. And so I don't know. I raised my hand. I'm like, am I doing? And I read my piece, and I was really nervous. I felt my voice was cracking, and then I probably was stumble over my words. Even though the words was there, I was trying to correct myself as I was reading it. I'm like, why am I doing that? You need to just read what you wrote. And so when I was done, I received a lot of really good feedback.

1 was from Helen telling me that I you are a writer. And then she showed righteous indignation, I guess, you could say, for people who are in leadership positions that are supposed to be, mentoring and bringing people up, especially a freshman in college, and tell them that they can't write such a destroyer because it has taken me all this time to really come back to the foundation in which I really wanted to start my career on. And one thing I feel like journaling for self care is really important because I feel that the love of writing and putting words together and in a story format for me was because I never gave up journaling. And so that has helped me. So in the group, she explained and she encouraged me to stick around, especially, you know, here I am, she graciously gave 30 days for you to try, her community to come back and and be in community. And that this community that she has put together it's full of people who are writing for the academic community, but they are super loving and as I say, clap up, cheer on people who are in different stages and are writing for different reasons. And so I am very excited to see where all this will go. And so with that said, I wanted to say thank you to Ashley Coleman.

I'm here on Substack. I've been following her, and we have a connection, like, years ago. But it was her little videos that she puts out, little short videos of her day, of the writing process, of her processing her thoughts that made me feel like I could do this, like this video. And I said, okay. It's a piece of my content. I'm going to follow through what I said, like, create my next post, and here it is. I'm doing it. And I did it yesterday super quickly and I did it in another, recording platform, and I had an echo.

And I was like, ah. So I'm like, I'm coming back today to do it again and to get it done. So thank you very much for taking the time to listen and to hold space for me and to be here. So if you feel it in your heart and in your feels to follow me. Please do so. I would love it, and I would love to hear any comments that you may have. If this resonated with you, please say so. Give me any type of fun feedback that you feel like how you've grown your substack or you've grown your community or how you're writing and how you're expressing yourself is through arts, travel.

I wanna know those things. And that brings another thought to my mind today that I'm gonna sit down because, you know, a lot of times I get really squirrely, and I start taking this class and that class and this class and that class. And I'm like, okay. I'm overwhelmed. I have information overload. So what I need to do is sit down with my journal and, Ryelle, what are the big things that I want to have come to life in my business? And if those things are not tied as far as courses learning from different mentors and instructors that I need to put it to the side and and thank them kindly for their wisdom and education and move and ex execute. And so all of this has led me to coming up with my next thing that I need to do. So this is so wonderful.

Alright. With that, I'm done. So have a great day, and I'll talk to you later. Bye.