How to Avoid Being a Me-Monster

And Still Tell Your Story

Frozen thoughts. Frozen ground.

What tenacious sprouts push through the soil?

We’ve had a cold winter here in the Midwest. Seems that spending more time indoors, scrolling the articles on my laptop would generate plenty of story ideas for my newsletter.

Instead, my head feels as frozen as the front lawn that has had animal footprints seemingly cemented in place.

Soon, those prints will look like this cement I caught on a walk—Solid

Posts from the expert Substackers keep asking,

“What problem does your Substack solve for a reader?”

“How can you help?”

Authorities on the platform call for me to define my space again. So here goes:

➡️I LIKE STORYTELLING WITH A POTENTIAL TO STIR THE SOUL

To open lines of thought. Lines like,

How do I climb out of this miry clay?

To connect with readers where they might say,

Ah, I have felt the same way! It’s so good to feel seen.

To encourage forgiveness. We might all agree that we can dig through the junk of our past, but we don’t need to fall into the hole and bury ourselves in the dirt.

I want people to see my book (coming up on the one-year anniversary of publication), so I promote it on just about every post. Like here at the following link:

🔗 My Father’s Daughter by Shell Norman

Sometimes it feels strange, like I’m just saying, Hey, buy my book. As if I simply want sales.

As if I am a Me-Monster.

I’m sure you’ve been around the type of people who love to bring every conversation around to themselves?

But the truth of it is—I really believe my story will touch you. It will encourage you to examine your past and, perhaps, reframe it in order to move forward with peace & joy. And that’s a worthy reason to promote my book without feeling all salesy & icky.

I think my story helps a person like the one who expressed something like this in a support group on social media:

Please help me. It’s been just weeks since [I found out a family secret]. I’m so overwhelmed that I am puking all the time. I don’t know how I will get through this. (paraphrased)

I hear this person. I can empathize.

Previous Story Linked Here [ARE SECRETS MAKING YOU SICK]

I am able to not only validate this person’s pain, but I can also grab her hand and take her along the path in my woods and lead her to the light at the other end. I wish I could give her a huge hug in solidarity.

As I begin to click the keys of my laptop, my memory of the day I found out the truth of a family secret rises from the recesses.

I had grown suspicious over the years because of something my mother told me before she died, but I still wasn’t prepared for the gut punch that hit me when the truth was confirmed.

I immediately ran upstairs to puke. I had to work hard to slow my rapid breaths; otherwise, I might faint.

My daughter & her husband were visiting, and we were playing a board game when some conversation on the topic arose. I couldn’t breathe.

But I also couldn’t let on to them why. I pretended nothing unusual was happening by excusing myself for a few minutes.

“Just having a bout of nausea is all.” I laughed it off. “Must have eaten something weird, as is typical for me.” Eye roll.

The secret wouldn’t come out until months later to my daughters, and years later for everyone else.

So how can my story help others?

It can show you that you have allies in your pain. What you must overcome may not be the same as what I have experienced, but you know that you want to deal with the past somehow.

You know that holding in secrets is going to make you sick. And you know that we all have skeletons in the closet, so finding someone who clawed her way through the woods and found her way out is comforting.

You might want to connect.

You might want to share your story.

How can you do it without being a Me-Monster then?

Tell the real stories. Watch the reactions. Embrace when you can and shed a few tears together, knowing that healing is within reach.

So. . . Pour some tea, grab a warm blanket & delve into a story of restoration.

[❤️Liking & sharing these stories helps us all connect & grow. Sometimes, you feel you want to do something special. Contributing a little tip is something nice. And you can do that at the following website by clicking the button below.]