I made a mistake.
Sharing a pivot in my Substack
I started this Substack to write about writing. To inspire you to write.
I told you to write about the things that scare you. To put to paper the words and feelings and memories that haunt you. To translate somatic memory into prose. To write about your biggest regret, your biggest lie, your biggest secret, and your biggest failure because in doing so, and only in doing so, you would find freedom. You would find joy. You would find yourself.
They say, “those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach,” and while I don’t fully agree with that sentiment — consider me caught red-handed. I shouldn’t have been telling you to write about your past, I should’ve been writing about mine.
And in the shadows, I did.
Alongside this weekly publication I spent the past year writing the first draft of my upcoming memoir. In it, I put into practice all of the lessons I’d been preaching.
And now it’s time to align this Substack with that larger piece of work.
From now on, this Substack will be a place where I write about healing. The ugly, messy, embarassing kind. The two steps forward and five steps back kind. The crying in the parking lot kind. The snotty, convulsing, shaking kind.
It will be about memories, boundaries, and trust.
It will be about what it means to remember abuse—and disclose it with family. How abuse distorts and intoxicates boundaries. How I’m learning to trust my body. And people. And their love.
Some of this will be personal and some will be wider—drawing on neuroscience, culture, and on the patterns I see in the world. All of it will be honest and true.
And with this pivot, I give you my blessing to unsubscribe. No hard feelings. This is sensitive, vulnerable, raw material. It’s not for everyone.
But if you want to stick around and support this unfolding as I bring my story into the world, thank you. I’m so grateful. I’m so grateful. I’m so grateful.
With love,
Charley x
