January 31, 2026 • 32 mins
From the 14th floor of a hotel room in downtown Nashville while the entire city is under a layer of ice, I send you this not-so-subtle nudge to use your voice.
You may have told yourself that you’d write your book “someday,” or that you aren’t a real writer anyway, or that nobody would listen to what you have to say, or that you’d speak up if you had a bigger platform.
The truth is that your words are needed now more than ever.
Regardless of your politics or life circumstances, the most effective and profound way you can join the revolution of this time is to pick up your pen and become the change you want to see in the world.
This is your benediction.
Host: Ally Fallon // @allyfallon // allisonfallon.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pick up the pieces of your life, put them back
together with the words you write. All the beauty and
peace and the magic that you'll start too fun when
you write your story. You got the words and said,
don't you think it's down to let them out and
write them down and cold. It's all about and write
(00:24):
your story, right, you write your story. Hello and welcome
back to the Write Your Story Podcast. I'm Ali Fallon,
I'm your host, and I am recording this week's episode
from a hotel room. Unexpectedly, crazier things have happened in
the world. I was in the middle of my first
attempt at this recording yesterday, trying to record a day
(00:46):
early because I had been told and I knew that
there was a potential that maybe some power outages were
coming to us in Nashville. We got a bunch of
winter weather, a lot of ice. The ice is too
heavy for the trees, too heavy for the power lines,
so we kind of knew this was coming. Sody morning,
I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead
and sit down and record this episode a little bit
earlier than I normally do to make sure that I
(01:06):
get out what, you know, what I need to say
and get the recording done before we potentially lose power.
And I was twenty minutes into recording the episode when
the power cut out. So that is that, you know,
it is what it is. And we stayed in our
house for a few hours after the power went out,
and then realized pretty quickly that this was probably going
to be a long, a long stay without power any s.
(01:27):
Nashville Electric Service is saying it's going to be three
to seven days before we get power back. So we
escaped in the icy tundra to a hotel in the area.
I'm so grateful to be here. I'm so grateful to
be warm. I grabbed my podcast gear and brought it
with me so that I could record this episode if
I caught a minute in the hotel room. And here
I am. I'm sitting in a beautiful hotel room fourteen
stories above the city of Nashville, looking out over the
(01:50):
snow in the ice. So grateful to be warm, so
grateful to be here. This hotel is packed with families
from the Nashville area who are all without power. The
last I checked, it was like two hundred thousand cusers
with that power, but I think that number is a
lot bigger. Now that was yesterday morning when I checked,
So I don't know what the total number is, but
I know that NYS is working really hard to get
everybody's power back on, and the temperatures are just so
(02:10):
frigid out there that a lot of people are stuck
in their homes. The ice on the streets is bad.
But worse than the ice on the streets are the
trees that have cracked and broken, and tree branches and
limbs have fallen across the roads. There are power lines
down driving here. I mean, if it hadn't been for
my husband, there's no way I would have made it
to our destination, just because I wouldn't have had the
(02:32):
guts to drive the places that he drove. And at
one point there was literally a tree down across the
street and he just drove right through it. I mean,
I wish I could tell you the video I took
video of it happening because I was so much in shock.
But he drives a big truck that did really well
on the roads. But no matter how well your car
is doing on these icy roads, I mean, there's just
only so much you can do when there's power lines
(02:53):
and trees across the streets. So the back streets in
East Nashville, where I live, are pretty bad. They're still
really bad. The main roads have been somewhat cleared. I
think some of them at least are cleared, and people
are trying to get around, or some people are, but
a lot of people are stuck in their homes. They
can't really go anywhere. If you don't have a four
wheel drive vehicle, I don't know how you would even
(03:14):
attempt to go anywhere. And people are without power. So
I sail that to say, I'm so grateful to be
in a hotel room right now. I'm so grateful to
be warm. I'm so grateful that we're fed, and my
family is safe and everyone's good. I'm also just aware
that this is such a bizarre time. I'm just sitting
here in this hotel room looking out over the city
(03:34):
of Nashville, aware how bizarre it is that our city
is completely covered in ice, that there are people everywhere
who are struggling on a spectrum, you know, like some
people are just maybe cold, and some people are potentially
in a more dangerous situation if they don't have access
to food or access to a heat source or anything
like that. I mean, the temperatures are quite frigid out there.
(03:55):
It's in the single digits today. So I'm feeling extremely
grateful for where I am. I'm feeling aware of what
a tenuous situation this is in Nashville, and I'm also
extremely aware of what a tenuous situation is going on
in other parts of the country that have nothing to
do with weather. I mean, speaking of ice. I know
this is kind of like a dumb like parallel, but
(04:16):
it does feel like an impossible parallel to ignore that
Nashville's covered in a sheet of ice and we're having
all this trouble because of the ice. And then you
have ice in neighborhoods in Minnesota and other parts of
the country that are raising hell and causing problems, breaking
the law, you know, assassinating citizens on the sidewalk who
(04:38):
are just simply trying to help out their fellow citizens
and human beings. And this is something that I want
to talk about on today's episode. One of the things
that I want to talk about that includes this topic.
It's like a bigger umbrella, Like take a step back
for a second, and I want to talk about how
I have spent most of my career and most of
my time having some way of a platform, a very
(05:01):
small platform, but still a platform. Nonetheless, most of my
time choosing not to talk about politics. It's been an
intentional decision. I mean, I am a registered Democrat. I've
been a registered Democrat since I could vote, and much
to my father's dismay, much to my family's dismay. I mean,
I can remember my dad and I having heated intense
arguments in like the Bush Obama era over you know,
(05:24):
whose policies were better, who was a better president. And
it's so funny to think back on that time now
because I think I was so opposed to George W.
And so opposed to the Republican policies, and now, like
what I wouldn't give to have George W back in office.
But I really think my reasoning, here's why I want
to talk about this, because I think right now, in
(05:45):
this period of time in human history, your voice is
more important than ever. This is how we as mothers,
as women, as a human beings, as people of faith
whatever that is, people who are trying to create a
life of meaning. This is how we as citizens who care,
(06:08):
even if you disagree with some of my politics, or
even if we differ on our policies. This is how
we as citizens who care, as people who are plugged in,
as people who want to create a life of meaning.
As Okay, gosh, this is such a good case in point.
I just got interrupted by one of my children, who
is supposed to be peacefully watching a TV show in
(06:28):
the other room. But I don't know if you feel
this way, if you are a mother, at least, if
you feel this way during this time, that this is
such a pivotal moment in human history, This is such
an important time, and our energies, our action, our words,
our participation is needed more than ever. And yet and yet,
(06:49):
and yet, and yet. Every day I wake up, I
help my kids get dressed, I help them brush their teeth,
I help them go pee and poop. I help them
wipe their butts, I help them get their shoes on.
I help them eat three meals a day. I clean
up their three meals a day. I do all these
things for my kids. It's like when in the margins,
how how can I participate in the type of energy
(07:16):
that's needed in order to create change in the society
that we're living in? And I think the answer to
that question what I really want to talk about today.
The answer to that question is your participation comes. You
join the revolution by raising your voice. Not every single
one of us, and especially if you're a mother to
young children, not every single one of us will be
able to join the marches on the streets. Not every
(07:38):
single one of us can be you know, like Alex
who lost his life and put your body in between
an ice agent and you know, a person who's being assaulted.
Not every single one of us will be able to
move our bodies in that way. But every single one
of us can pick up a pen and put the
pen to paper and use our words as a way
(08:00):
to participate in the revolution that's happening right now. And
I just want to be clear, I don't think this
means that we all have to agree on policies. What
we're talking about now is no longer political. And this
is why I want to talk about this topic today,
because for the longest time I was like, you know, what,
politics are not my specialty. I'm not an expert in politics.
(08:20):
This is not something that I've studied deeply. This is
not I don't really believe that, you know, I should
be elected into office because I have the best way
forward and I know how this should work, and I
don't really understand like how large systems like that should work.
This is not my dharma in life, it's not my path.
So in terms of using my platform, it didn't feel
like proclaiming my beliefs as a Democrat and maybe like
(08:43):
a moderate Democrat didn't feel like something that I was
particularly passionate about doing. But somewhere in the last five years,
and I'm ashamed to admit this, but probably like a
long time ago, I think it was time to shift
into talking about this. Because somewhere in the last five
years that was probably longer ago than I would like
to admit to myself, we shifted from this being a
(09:05):
conversation about politics to being a conversation about morality and
about basic human decency. And I want to start to
use my voice in this way because I realized that
a big reason why I haven't it has shifted over
the years. The reason used to be because I'm not
an expert on this topic. This isn't really what my
platform is about. I think there was a point in
(09:25):
time at least where a lot of that was grounded
in wisdom. It's like I grew up and I was
raised by parents who taught me the value of having
like a calm and nuanced dialogue, the value of being
able to hold space for someone who sees things differently
than you do, the value of being able to see
things from someone else's perspective. When there were conflicts in
(09:47):
our house growing up. My dad was a therapist and
an intellectual, So when there were conflicts in my house
growing up, we would sit down as a family. We
would go around the circle, and everybody would have a
chance to speak up and to use their voice and
to say, you know, like what this conflict means for them,
or what's really bothering them, or what's really getting at them.
And we would practice sitting and listening to someone else's
(10:09):
point of view and putting ourselves in their shoes and
really trying to understand, like how they see the world uniquely,
which is different than how we see the world. And
I practiced that growing up. I think it was a huge,
huge value that my dad passed on to me and
something that I still hold dear to my heart. And
so when I started to publish books and have this platform,
(10:31):
and there was some outside pressure to use your platform
for good or use your platform to promote your political views.
And there was a period of time where I really
do think it was wisdom to say, it's just not
what I'm about, that's not what I'm here to talk about,
it's not what I'm here to do. I really want
to to maintain this ability to hold space for people
who see the world differently than I do, and that
(10:52):
everybody deserves to have their own unique perspective, and everybody
deserves to be able to show up here in the
fullness of who they are. And somewhere along the way,
I think that my reasoning shifted really silently and maybe
somewhat subconsciously, from this wisdom of you know, holding space
for all different viewpoints into feeling afraid that if I
(11:13):
were to really share my truth, if I really were
to speak up about what I thought, that it would
put me in some kind of danger, that it would
put me in either like emotional danger or actual physical danger.
I don't know. I can't point to where the line
was drawn that it went from more psychological danger to
more physical danger. But somewhere along the way, like it
(11:34):
has become that, I mean, you have to look at
what just happened in Minneapolis and notice that there's this
person who puts himself between an ICE agent and a
woman who that ICE agent is assaulting, and he ends
up getting publicly executed on the streets. At some point,
it has become extremely physically dangerous for us to speak
(11:57):
up and use our voice and use our bodies and
participate in what is basic human decency and goodness. And
I know that there will be people who disagree with
me on this topic. I feel like we've moved out
of the realm of you can disagree about immigration policy.
We can have a conversation, a very nuanced and calm
and peaceful and productive conversation around what the rules that
(12:20):
the borders should be, or what our immigration policy should
look like, or what should happen to someone who comes
into this country illegally, Like we can have conversations about that,
and we can disagree on policy, but when it comes
to how you treat a human being and about whether
or not that human being deserves to just be treated
(12:40):
with basic kindness. Like, here's the other weird dichotomy about
being a mother of young children during this time is
like I spend all day all day, every day talking
to a four year old and a five year old
about what it means to be kind to each other
and how important it is to use our words and
not our bodies. You know, Like my kids will hit
each other, they'll get into arguments, sibling, little span, and
it's just like, hey, it's so important that we learn
(13:02):
now that you use your words, you calmly and peacefully
tell your sister, tell your brother what they did that
bothered you. You know, what happened that you didn't like.
You can set a boundary with them, You can tell them,
you know, if you do that again, I'm going to
go get mom. You can whatever you want to do
to set a boundary with this person or to communicate
(13:22):
what works for you or what doesn't work for you,
Like use your words and do those things. But the
minute that you start to use your body to hurt
somebody else, now you know, we're in a different zone.
And we talk all the time in our house like
that's just not something that we do in our house,
in our family, we don't use our hands to hurt
other people. And meanwhile, like the grown ups who are
(13:43):
theoretically in charge out there are doing exactly that using
their bodies to hurt other people and not calmly and
diplomatically having a conversation about what's right and good and
what will really create the kind of society that we
want to be a part of, but instead using force,
abusing their power, and creating chaos and fear and terror
(14:06):
and confusion and upset across the country. I think I
was saying that as a mom of young kids, you
spend your entire day taking care of little people, and
(14:26):
all of your energy and all of your resources and
all of your attention goes to that, and it feels
virtually impossible to a to find even like the time
or the bandwidth to contribute any resources toward social change.
But then beyond the time in the bandwidth, it's also
the realization that this has moved now to becoming extremely
(14:50):
physically dangerous is a hard pill to swallow as a
parent of young children, because you realize that you have
these little people who are depending on you, like absolutely
depending on you everything, and for you to put yourself
in danger the way Alex pretty put himself in danger
that day, I mean that man is an absolute hero,
and you have to give him all the credit, but
to put yourself in danger like that when you have
(15:11):
young children feels just different, Like it feels more more
loaded than it would if I didn't have young kids
who were depending on me. So I'm not saying that
I can't put myself in danger. I think what I'm
saying is that now is the time to participate, That
now is the time to throw your hat in the ring.
Now is the time to join in join this revolution
(15:33):
in whatever way you possibly can. So for me, it
means that I'm going to start using my platform to
talk about what I believe matters, to talk about what
I believe is true, what I believe is important. And
I think that we've moved out of the realm of
this being a political dialogue. It's really not a political
dialogue anymore. This is a morality dialogue, and we have
(15:53):
to have this dialogue. I mean, we really do like
we have a person in power in our country right
now who is absolutely deranged, and I would say, in
my opinion, absolutely deranged, but it's not an opinion anymore.
We're watching this unfold in real time right in front
of our eyes, and I want to urge you to
believe what you see happening. In front of your eyes.
(16:17):
You may have different political beliefs than I do, you
may belong to a different political party than I do.
But at the end of the day, we are all
human beings and we all can see what is happening
in front of our eyes. And what I see happening
is deeply, deeply, deeply concerning that elements, absolutely, like essential
elements of our constitution are up for grabs right now,
(16:38):
elements like freedom of speech. I thought it was so
bizarre that after the Alex pretty incident, after he's assassinated
on the street, that there weren't more people who you
would otherwise see standing up for the Second Amendment, for
our right to carry a weapon, our right to own weapons.
You didn't see more of those people, more of your
(16:59):
and our folks standing up and saying he absolutely had
the right to carry a weapon in a legal way
in the state of Minnesota. And instead people were saying, well,
the fact that he was carrying a weapon to a
protest made him an obvious target, and Ice had every
right to do what they did. So I don't know,
I don't know how any of this falls on you,
(17:19):
and I don't know if you're feeling the same sense
that I am that it's gotten too far and something
has to be done. And in many ways I'm embarrassed
that I haven't done more than I've done up until now.
But I can tell you one thing for sure, which
is I'm no longer keeping my mouth shut on this topic.
This is no longer a political issue. I'm not having
a political dialogue here. I'm having a dialogue about basic
human decency. And what I hope is that if you're
(17:42):
like me, and you're out there and you've thought these
things or felt these things, but you've never really felt
bold enough to speak up about them because you were
worried about putting yourself, you know in harm's way, that
maybe this might be the little nudge that you need,
or that my courage courage might rub off on you,
whatever little courage I can muster up in order to
record this episode, that this might rub off on you,
(18:05):
and that it might create a groundswell of voices who
are willing to say, like, we are not okay with this.
We can differ on all kinds of opinions, but this
is not an opinion anymore. This is like which side
of history do you want to be on? Do you
want to be on the side of history that raised
your hand and said we're not okay to treat other
people this way? Or do you want to be on
the side of history that turned a blind eye because
(18:27):
it was too hard to watch? And that's my question
for you on this episode is which side of history
do you want to stand on? And I'm hoping again
that the courage really is contagious because I have watched
other influencers and podcasters and you know, just authors and
people on Instagram start to speak up and use their
(18:49):
voices too, and that has lent me the courage to
be here to record this episode today. So I'm hoping
that me doing this can also pass that courage on.
I think, like the image in my head is this
you think of like going to a Christmas eve service
where everyone is handed a candle and someone's candle gets
lit and they pass their candle down and light the
next person's candle. Now you have two candles that are lit,
(19:11):
and two people can light another candle, so then it's four,
and then it's eight, and then it's sixteen. And it
has this exponential effect to it where the flame will
pick up paste and pick up paste and pick up
past until everyone in the room has their candle it.
This is my way of lighting my candle and handing
that candle to you to light yours as well. And specifically,
(19:32):
I want to talk about this idea of how I
think the most effective way for any single one of
us to join the revolution is to put pen to paper.
I think the obvious and most common pushback to this
is going to be, well, I don't have a platform
or I don't have it. This is what authors say
to me when they say I have this book, idea,
this message that's coming through that. You know, I think
(19:54):
I have something that I want to say or something
I want to put into a book, but I'm not
sure that anybody's going to read it, or I'm not
sure it'll make a difference. I don't have a platform.
No one would ever publish me. You know, I've never
written anything before. Why would anyone, you know, listen to
what I have to say. This is the same exact
objection that comes up when someone has a book that
they want to write, and I think it's the objection
(20:16):
here too. People say, well, like, what difference could it
possibly make for me to put pen to paper? And
I just want to really linger on this for just
a second because I want to remind you that when
you pick up your pen and put it to paper,
you are doing something so much bigger than just an
act of publishing. And I feel like in some ways
(20:38):
that should go without saying. This is obvious, but I
just want to remind you that when you pick up
a pen and put it to paper, the first thing
that's happening is you're transforming yourself. You're coming into alignment
with who you are, with what you were put here
to do, with what your unique purpose is. You're coming
into alignment with your own truth. You're reminding yourself of
who you really are, You're reminding yourself of what you
(20:59):
really believe. In some ways, when you put pen to
paper a year discovering for the first time what you
really believe, or how you really feel, or what you
think about things, or you're reminding yourself of experiences that
you've had that have informed the way that you view
the world. And right now, more than ever, we need
your unique viewpoint. We need your unique vantage point. Avoid
(21:21):
the temptation, which is very easy to do, to just
jump onto bandwagon of what everyone else is saying, I
think it's so easy for that to happen right now,
And maybe because I've been in a relationship with a
narcissist before, I see the manipulation tactics that are happening
in the ethos right now, And I watch people who
I know are really good people deep down, who I
(21:41):
know have good hearts, who I know don't want to
be on the wrong side of history, who are getting
like looped up or like swept up in this cult
like movement of Donald Trump, And it's so bizarre to watch,
But at at the same time, because I've been in
(22:01):
a relationship with a narcissist, I really understand how this works.
It is manipulation, it is brainwashing, it is propaganda. It's
extremely effective. And in fact, someone told me after my divorce,
you know, I was feeling really guilty for all of
the ways that I collaborated with my now ex husband
to commit all kinds of like you know, I don't know,
illegal acts, like some of them I didn't know about
(22:23):
that were happening at the time, but some of them
were just kind of not necessarily illegal, but just like
unkind or sort of emotionally violent. I guess is how
I would describe it. But some of them really were
were just unethical, maybe not illegal, but unethical. That's the
word I'm looking for. So on a sliding scale from
just unkind to unethical, I cooperated with him for years,
(22:46):
for four years, to make all kinds of choices that
were outside of alignment with my own set of values.
And so I really understand that slippery slope and how
that can work, and how you can become swept up
and you can feel like your own sense of safety
is un threat and if you don't obey and follow
what this person is telling you to do, that you
will be unsafe, that you'll put yourself in the line
(23:08):
of fire. And I just want to validate and affirm
and confirm that it is true that when you choose
to stand up against an abuser, you are putting yourself
in the line of fire. You absolutely are putting your
own body at risk, putting your own sense of safety
at risk, whether that's psychological safety or physical safety. You
are putting yourself at risk. You absolutely are. So you
(23:30):
are not crazy to feel that way. And in fact, again,
after I left that relationship, I looked back and thought
like one of the reasons why I didn't leave is
because I was afraid he would come after me. I
was afraid that I would be killed, truly. I mean
I told friends, if I go missing, look in his trunk,
because that's where I will be. And I don't know
how accurate I was necessarily about how violent he would
(23:51):
be with me, but I knew in my gut what
he was capable of, and I was terrified of him.
And so if you're terrified right now to speak up
against this current regime, no wonder you should be terrified.
And also now is the time to take action. But
(24:17):
going back to what I said a minute ago, I
was telling a friend about how much guilt I had
over this, feeling like I had cooperated and corroborated him
and his story and his way of seeing things outside
of my own integrity. And she just reminded me, She said,
you know, he was an amazing manipulator. You need to
remember that you were under his brainwashing, you were under
(24:38):
his authority, and until that spell broke, it was really
like you were missing. Your own sense of self was missing,
and so you were just like upon in his game.
And I really feel like so many people right now
are just upon in Donald Trump's game, whether or not
you know, we were talking about like people who are
(24:59):
like directly associated with him, like Jade Bance for example,
but even beyond that, like people who are not in
government or politics at all, but who are just getting
swept up in the narrative that he is driving home
like an absolute expert manipulator. And I can watch the
spell it's breaking in certain groups of people, and the
(25:19):
longer this goes on, I just pray the more that
spell breaks and the more people wake up and go
like I cannot get on board with this, I cannot
be okay with this, Like this is not working for me.
This is so far outside of my own value system
and my own integrity, like I refuse to keep covering
for him. And I hope more and more people come
to that place. I'm hoping that my choice to speak
(25:41):
up in this way on this platform at this time,
I'm really hoping that even one other person goes like, yeah, yeah,
it's outside of my integrity too. And if it genuinely
isn't outside of your integrity, then like I don't even
know what to say, Like if if grabbing an innocent
child off of the streets outside of their school and
(26:04):
taking them out of state to a detainment center. If
that is an outside of your integrity, then I don't A.
I don't think you're probably listening to this podcast, but
B I genuinely don't even know what to say to you,
Like I would just ask you to do some soul searching,
but I think for the reality is that for most
of us, like if you're listening to this episode and
(26:24):
you really check in with yourself, the chances are quite
high that that is outside of your own integrity and
that that's not something that you want to stand behind.
And my encouragement to you would be my invitation to
you would be to join the revolution by picking up
the pen and putting it to the page and admitting
to yourself what's true. It always starts there. It always
starts with putting the pen to paper, admitting to yourself
(26:46):
what is true, coming back into alignment with yourself, trusting
your own self, your own perception of things, your own
eyeballs and what your eyeballs are seeing, Trusting that over
and above anything that anybody is going to tell you,
any narrative that anyone else wants to spin about this,
Like see what you see, and trust what you see,
trust yourself, and come back into integrity with your own self.
(27:08):
And I'm not saying that you've got to get on
Instagram and start, you know, like stirring up drama or
having chaota conversations. There's even yesterday, as I was thinking
about this, because I was spending more time on my
phone than I normally do, just because we were snowed in.
Nothing was working, the power was out, so I'm scrolling
on my phone and I'm the timing is wild. You
have to admit the timing as wild. The city of
(27:29):
Nashville is covered in ice, and I'm sitting on my
phone with nothing else to do, watching this horrific scene
unfold on Instagram, over and over again, watching every single
camera angle, watching what every single person has to say
about it, reading the comments, and hearing, really hearing. You know,
I guess most of what shows up in my algorithm
(27:50):
is probably on my side of the isle ish, although
I do. I see myself as a really moderate Democrat,
so I do get some you know, more like modern
Republican stuff in my algorithm too. But then I'd see
someone post a reel and then the comments is where
you really see the other side of the argument, or
(28:10):
like the I don't know, I'm going to call off
the trolls come out because you see people say some
really horrific stuff that just feels like is this a bot?
Because I can't fathom ever saying something like this to
a real person on the Internet. But so I'm scrolling
through all of that, like watching this all in full,
just thinking like the timing is wild, because if my
life were going as usual, if we hadn't slowed down yesterday,
(28:31):
I probably wouldn't seen most of that. And it made
me go like, do I need to get on Instagram
and start talking about this? Like I made the decision
not to get on Instagram and do that, to use
this platform instead. And there are a couple of reasons
for that that I don't need to go into huge
depth on, but one of the main reasons is I
just feel like the platform on Instagram, the short form content,
(28:53):
doesn't really lend itself to having the kind of conversation
that I feel ready to have at this point. There
may come point, probably in the near future, where I
do use that platform as well, and for now I'm
reposting what other people are sharing that I think is
really powerful or gets at the point, or you know,
they say what I wanted to say in a way
that I couldn't have set it. So I'm reposting that
(29:14):
stuff on that platform. But I definitely wanted to use
this platform to talk about what I'm processing and what
I'm going through and to invite you into this with
me and to It's my way of holding out my
candle to light your candle, to say, don't forget that
your perspective matters, that the way you see things is
unique and valuable and purposeful and meaningful. Don't forget that
(29:37):
you have this tool accessible to you. It's called writing,
where you can pick up a pen and you can
be reminded of who you are and what you're here
for and what your unique message is. And don't forget
that now is the absolute most important time that you
could be doing that. And especially if you're a caregiver
to young children or maybe to aging parents, or if
there are other reasons you have other people depending on you,
(29:59):
and there are other reasons why you can can't really
get out there and march the streets and put yourself
in physical danger, that using your voice is the way
to join the revolution right now. Using your voice, standing
up for what you believe in, speaking up about what
matters to you is the way to join the revolution.
And it may be that you have three minutes a
day or three minutes in the morning and three minutes
(30:19):
in the evening to really quickly repost something that someone
says on Instagram or whatever the version is that works
for you. Don't underestimate the value of your throwing your
hat in the ring. Do not underestimate yourself. Do not
underestimate your voice, your words, your participation, your energy. Whatever
(30:40):
you can add to the pot is important, is valuable,
it matters. Now is not the time to get complacent.
Now is the time to get really serious about coming
back into our own integrity. So that's my invitation for you,
that's my encouragement. I hope this meets you where you are.
I hope that you hear the love in my voice
(31:03):
and in this message. And I want to offer you
a little prompt that you can use just to write
for five minutes today or ten minutes or twenty minutes
right at the top of your paper, what do I
see with my own eyes today? What do I see
with my own eyes today, and what you see with
your own eyes will probably range from maybe what you're
(31:24):
seeing on social media. Maybe you're seeing the same things
that I'm seeing about what's happening in Minnesota right now,
you're seeing, you know, fifty thousand people come out and
seb sero temperatures to protest what's happening with ice in
the state of Minnesota. Maybe part of what you're seeing
with your own eyes, like what I'm seeing is your
kids giggling at the little puppet show that they put
on with their stuffed animals. Maybe part of what you're
(31:45):
seeing with your own eyes is you know whether that's
going on outside of your window, whatever it is, like,
it might be a very interesting collage of all kinds
of different things. But I want you to trust what
you see with your own eyes today, and I want
you to come back to your own perception of things
and remember that your perception of things matters, that you
(32:07):
were part of this giant kaleidoscope of the way that
we all see the world. I hope you find that
process grounding. I hope you find it helpful, and I
hope that I will see you back here next week
on The Writer Story podcast. What do you need to
tell me? Do you know that Nelle's not going to
(32:27):
earn a star today because she never gave me a bobo? Never,
She's not going to eat her ice cream. She did
offer you a bobo. I heard her offer you a
strawberry bobo. I like strawbery. Well okay, well here I
can help you with snacks after I record my episode.
Can you go watch your show so I can go episode?
(32:48):
Thank you. Can you shut the door please? Sure, thank you,
Pick up the pieces of your life, put them back
together with the words you write. All the beauty and
peace and the magic that you'll start too fun when
you write your story. You got the words and said,
don't you think it's down to let them out and
write them down and cold. It's all about and write
(00:24):
your story, right, you write your story. Hello and welcome
back to the Write Your Story Podcast. I'm Ali Fallon,
I'm your host, and I am recording this week's episode
from a hotel room. Unexpectedly, crazier things have happened in
the world. I was in the middle of my first
attempt at this recording yesterday, trying to record a day
(00:46):
early because I had been told and I knew that
there was a potential that maybe some power outages were
coming to us in Nashville. We got a bunch of
winter weather, a lot of ice. The ice is too
heavy for the trees, too heavy for the power lines,
so we kind of knew this was coming. Sody morning,
I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead
and sit down and record this episode a little bit
earlier than I normally do to make sure that I
(01:06):
get out what, you know, what I need to say
and get the recording done before we potentially lose power.
And I was twenty minutes into recording the episode when
the power cut out. So that is that, you know,
it is what it is. And we stayed in our
house for a few hours after the power went out,
and then realized pretty quickly that this was probably going
to be a long, a long stay without power any s.
(01:27):
Nashville Electric Service is saying it's going to be three
to seven days before we get power back. So we
escaped in the icy tundra to a hotel in the area.
I'm so grateful to be here. I'm so grateful to
be warm. I grabbed my podcast gear and brought it
with me so that I could record this episode if
I caught a minute in the hotel room. And here
I am. I'm sitting in a beautiful hotel room fourteen
stories above the city of Nashville, looking out over the
(01:50):
snow in the ice. So grateful to be warm, so
grateful to be here. This hotel is packed with families
from the Nashville area who are all without power. The
last I checked, it was like two hundred thousand cusers
with that power, but I think that number is a
lot bigger. Now that was yesterday morning when I checked,
So I don't know what the total number is, but
I know that NYS is working really hard to get
everybody's power back on, and the temperatures are just so
(02:10):
frigid out there that a lot of people are stuck
in their homes. The ice on the streets is bad.
But worse than the ice on the streets are the
trees that have cracked and broken, and tree branches and
limbs have fallen across the roads. There are power lines
down driving here. I mean, if it hadn't been for
my husband, there's no way I would have made it
to our destination, just because I wouldn't have had the
(02:32):
guts to drive the places that he drove. And at
one point there was literally a tree down across the
street and he just drove right through it. I mean,
I wish I could tell you the video I took
video of it happening because I was so much in shock.
But he drives a big truck that did really well
on the roads. But no matter how well your car
is doing on these icy roads, I mean, there's just
only so much you can do when there's power lines
(02:53):
and trees across the streets. So the back streets in
East Nashville, where I live, are pretty bad. They're still
really bad. The main roads have been somewhat cleared. I
think some of them at least are cleared, and people
are trying to get around, or some people are, but
a lot of people are stuck in their homes. They
can't really go anywhere. If you don't have a four
wheel drive vehicle, I don't know how you would even
(03:14):
attempt to go anywhere. And people are without power. So
I sail that to say, I'm so grateful to be
in a hotel room right now. I'm so grateful to
be warm. I'm so grateful that we're fed, and my
family is safe and everyone's good. I'm also just aware
that this is such a bizarre time. I'm just sitting
here in this hotel room looking out over the city
(03:34):
of Nashville, aware how bizarre it is that our city
is completely covered in ice, that there are people everywhere
who are struggling on a spectrum, you know, like some
people are just maybe cold, and some people are potentially
in a more dangerous situation if they don't have access
to food or access to a heat source or anything
like that. I mean, the temperatures are quite frigid out there.
(03:55):
It's in the single digits today. So I'm feeling extremely
grateful for where I am. I'm feeling aware of what
a tenuous situation this is in Nashville, and I'm also
extremely aware of what a tenuous situation is going on
in other parts of the country that have nothing to
do with weather. I mean, speaking of ice. I know
this is kind of like a dumb like parallel, but
(04:16):
it does feel like an impossible parallel to ignore that
Nashville's covered in a sheet of ice and we're having
all this trouble because of the ice. And then you
have ice in neighborhoods in Minnesota and other parts of
the country that are raising hell and causing problems, breaking
the law, you know, assassinating citizens on the sidewalk who
(04:38):
are just simply trying to help out their fellow citizens
and human beings. And this is something that I want
to talk about on today's episode. One of the things
that I want to talk about that includes this topic.
It's like a bigger umbrella, Like take a step back
for a second, and I want to talk about how
I have spent most of my career and most of
my time having some way of a platform, a very
(05:01):
small platform, but still a platform. Nonetheless, most of my
time choosing not to talk about politics. It's been an
intentional decision. I mean, I am a registered Democrat. I've
been a registered Democrat since I could vote, and much
to my father's dismay, much to my family's dismay. I mean,
I can remember my dad and I having heated intense
arguments in like the Bush Obama era over you know,
(05:24):
whose policies were better, who was a better president. And
it's so funny to think back on that time now
because I think I was so opposed to George W.
And so opposed to the Republican policies, and now, like
what I wouldn't give to have George W back in office.
But I really think my reasoning, here's why I want
to talk about this, because I think right now, in
(05:45):
this period of time in human history, your voice is
more important than ever. This is how we as mothers,
as women, as a human beings, as people of faith
whatever that is, people who are trying to create a
life of meaning. This is how we as citizens who care,
(06:08):
even if you disagree with some of my politics, or
even if we differ on our policies. This is how
we as citizens who care, as people who are plugged in,
as people who want to create a life of meaning.
As Okay, gosh, this is such a good case in point.
I just got interrupted by one of my children, who
is supposed to be peacefully watching a TV show in
(06:28):
the other room. But I don't know if you feel
this way, if you are a mother, at least, if
you feel this way during this time, that this is
such a pivotal moment in human history, This is such
an important time, and our energies, our action, our words,
our participation is needed more than ever. And yet and yet,
(06:49):
and yet, and yet. Every day I wake up, I
help my kids get dressed, I help them brush their teeth,
I help them go pee and poop. I help them
wipe their butts, I help them get their shoes on.
I help them eat three meals a day. I clean
up their three meals a day. I do all these
things for my kids. It's like when in the margins,
how how can I participate in the type of energy
(07:16):
that's needed in order to create change in the society
that we're living in? And I think the answer to
that question what I really want to talk about today.
The answer to that question is your participation comes. You
join the revolution by raising your voice. Not every single
one of us, and especially if you're a mother to
young children, not every single one of us will be
able to join the marches on the streets. Not every
(07:38):
single one of us can be you know, like Alex
who lost his life and put your body in between
an ice agent and you know, a person who's being assaulted.
Not every single one of us will be able to
move our bodies in that way. But every single one
of us can pick up a pen and put the
pen to paper and use our words as a way
(08:00):
to participate in the revolution that's happening right now. And
I just want to be clear, I don't think this
means that we all have to agree on policies. What
we're talking about now is no longer political. And this
is why I want to talk about this topic today,
because for the longest time I was like, you know, what,
politics are not my specialty. I'm not an expert in politics.
(08:20):
This is not something that I've studied deeply. This is
not I don't really believe that, you know, I should
be elected into office because I have the best way
forward and I know how this should work, and I
don't really understand like how large systems like that should work.
This is not my dharma in life, it's not my path.
So in terms of using my platform, it didn't feel
like proclaiming my beliefs as a Democrat and maybe like
(08:43):
a moderate Democrat didn't feel like something that I was
particularly passionate about doing. But somewhere in the last five years,
and I'm ashamed to admit this, but probably like a
long time ago, I think it was time to shift
into talking about this. Because somewhere in the last five
years that was probably longer ago than I would like
to admit to myself, we shifted from this being a
(09:05):
conversation about politics to being a conversation about morality and
about basic human decency. And I want to start to
use my voice in this way because I realized that
a big reason why I haven't it has shifted over
the years. The reason used to be because I'm not
an expert on this topic. This isn't really what my
platform is about. I think there was a point in
(09:25):
time at least where a lot of that was grounded
in wisdom. It's like I grew up and I was
raised by parents who taught me the value of having
like a calm and nuanced dialogue, the value of being
able to hold space for someone who sees things differently
than you do, the value of being able to see
things from someone else's perspective. When there were conflicts in
(09:47):
our house growing up. My dad was a therapist and
an intellectual, So when there were conflicts in my house
growing up, we would sit down as a family. We
would go around the circle, and everybody would have a
chance to speak up and to use their voice and
to say, you know, like what this conflict means for them,
or what's really bothering them, or what's really getting at them.
And we would practice sitting and listening to someone else's
(10:09):
point of view and putting ourselves in their shoes and
really trying to understand, like how they see the world uniquely,
which is different than how we see the world. And
I practiced that growing up. I think it was a huge,
huge value that my dad passed on to me and
something that I still hold dear to my heart. And
so when I started to publish books and have this platform,
(10:31):
and there was some outside pressure to use your platform
for good or use your platform to promote your political views.
And there was a period of time where I really
do think it was wisdom to say, it's just not
what I'm about, that's not what I'm here to talk about,
it's not what I'm here to do. I really want
to to maintain this ability to hold space for people
who see the world differently than I do, and that
(10:52):
everybody deserves to have their own unique perspective, and everybody
deserves to be able to show up here in the
fullness of who they are. And somewhere along the way,
I think that my reasoning shifted really silently and maybe
somewhat subconsciously, from this wisdom of you know, holding space
for all different viewpoints into feeling afraid that if I
(11:13):
were to really share my truth, if I really were
to speak up about what I thought, that it would
put me in some kind of danger, that it would
put me in either like emotional danger or actual physical danger.
I don't know. I can't point to where the line
was drawn that it went from more psychological danger to
more physical danger. But somewhere along the way, like it
(11:34):
has become that, I mean, you have to look at
what just happened in Minneapolis and notice that there's this
person who puts himself between an ICE agent and a
woman who that ICE agent is assaulting, and he ends
up getting publicly executed on the streets. At some point,
it has become extremely physically dangerous for us to speak
(11:57):
up and use our voice and use our bodies and
participate in what is basic human decency and goodness. And
I know that there will be people who disagree with
me on this topic. I feel like we've moved out
of the realm of you can disagree about immigration policy.
We can have a conversation, a very nuanced and calm
and peaceful and productive conversation around what the rules that
(12:20):
the borders should be, or what our immigration policy should
look like, or what should happen to someone who comes
into this country illegally, Like we can have conversations about that,
and we can disagree on policy, but when it comes
to how you treat a human being and about whether
or not that human being deserves to just be treated
(12:40):
with basic kindness. Like, here's the other weird dichotomy about
being a mother of young children during this time is
like I spend all day all day, every day talking
to a four year old and a five year old
about what it means to be kind to each other
and how important it is to use our words and
not our bodies. You know, Like my kids will hit
each other, they'll get into arguments, sibling, little span, and
it's just like, hey, it's so important that we learn
(13:02):
now that you use your words, you calmly and peacefully
tell your sister, tell your brother what they did that
bothered you. You know, what happened that you didn't like.
You can set a boundary with them, You can tell them,
you know, if you do that again, I'm going to
go get mom. You can whatever you want to do
to set a boundary with this person or to communicate
(13:22):
what works for you or what doesn't work for you,
Like use your words and do those things. But the
minute that you start to use your body to hurt
somebody else, now you know, we're in a different zone.
And we talk all the time in our house like
that's just not something that we do in our house,
in our family, we don't use our hands to hurt
other people. And meanwhile, like the grown ups who are
(13:43):
theoretically in charge out there are doing exactly that using
their bodies to hurt other people and not calmly and
diplomatically having a conversation about what's right and good and
what will really create the kind of society that we
want to be a part of, but instead using force,
abusing their power, and creating chaos and fear and terror
(14:06):
and confusion and upset across the country. I think I
was saying that as a mom of young kids, you
spend your entire day taking care of little people, and
(14:26):
all of your energy and all of your resources and
all of your attention goes to that, and it feels
virtually impossible to a to find even like the time
or the bandwidth to contribute any resources toward social change.
But then beyond the time in the bandwidth, it's also
the realization that this has moved now to becoming extremely
(14:50):
physically dangerous is a hard pill to swallow as a
parent of young children, because you realize that you have
these little people who are depending on you, like absolutely
depending on you everything, and for you to put yourself
in danger the way Alex pretty put himself in danger
that day, I mean that man is an absolute hero,
and you have to give him all the credit, but
to put yourself in danger like that when you have
(15:11):
young children feels just different, Like it feels more more
loaded than it would if I didn't have young kids
who were depending on me. So I'm not saying that
I can't put myself in danger. I think what I'm
saying is that now is the time to participate, That
now is the time to throw your hat in the ring.
Now is the time to join in join this revolution
(15:33):
in whatever way you possibly can. So for me, it
means that I'm going to start using my platform to
talk about what I believe matters, to talk about what
I believe is true, what I believe is important. And
I think that we've moved out of the realm of
this being a political dialogue. It's really not a political
dialogue anymore. This is a morality dialogue, and we have
(15:53):
to have this dialogue. I mean, we really do like
we have a person in power in our country right
now who is absolutely deranged, and I would say, in
my opinion, absolutely deranged, but it's not an opinion anymore.
We're watching this unfold in real time right in front
of our eyes, and I want to urge you to
believe what you see happening. In front of your eyes.
(16:17):
You may have different political beliefs than I do, you
may belong to a different political party than I do.
But at the end of the day, we are all
human beings and we all can see what is happening
in front of our eyes. And what I see happening
is deeply, deeply, deeply concerning that elements, absolutely, like essential
elements of our constitution are up for grabs right now,
(16:38):
elements like freedom of speech. I thought it was so
bizarre that after the Alex pretty incident, after he's assassinated
on the street, that there weren't more people who you
would otherwise see standing up for the Second Amendment, for
our right to carry a weapon, our right to own weapons.
You didn't see more of those people, more of your
(16:59):
and our folks standing up and saying he absolutely had
the right to carry a weapon in a legal way
in the state of Minnesota. And instead people were saying, well,
the fact that he was carrying a weapon to a
protest made him an obvious target, and Ice had every
right to do what they did. So I don't know,
I don't know how any of this falls on you,
(17:19):
and I don't know if you're feeling the same sense
that I am that it's gotten too far and something
has to be done. And in many ways I'm embarrassed
that I haven't done more than I've done up until now.
But I can tell you one thing for sure, which
is I'm no longer keeping my mouth shut on this topic.
This is no longer a political issue. I'm not having
a political dialogue here. I'm having a dialogue about basic
human decency. And what I hope is that if you're
(17:42):
like me, and you're out there and you've thought these
things or felt these things, but you've never really felt
bold enough to speak up about them because you were
worried about putting yourself, you know in harm's way, that
maybe this might be the little nudge that you need,
or that my courage courage might rub off on you,
whatever little courage I can muster up in order to
record this episode, that this might rub off on you,
(18:05):
and that it might create a groundswell of voices who
are willing to say, like, we are not okay with this.
We can differ on all kinds of opinions, but this
is not an opinion anymore. This is like which side
of history do you want to be on? Do you
want to be on the side of history that raised
your hand and said we're not okay to treat other
people this way? Or do you want to be on
the side of history that turned a blind eye because
(18:27):
it was too hard to watch? And that's my question
for you on this episode is which side of history
do you want to stand on? And I'm hoping again
that the courage really is contagious because I have watched
other influencers and podcasters and you know, just authors and
people on Instagram start to speak up and use their
(18:49):
voices too, and that has lent me the courage to
be here to record this episode today. So I'm hoping
that me doing this can also pass that courage on.
I think, like the image in my head is this
you think of like going to a Christmas eve service
where everyone is handed a candle and someone's candle gets
lit and they pass their candle down and light the
next person's candle. Now you have two candles that are lit,
(19:11):
and two people can light another candle, so then it's four,
and then it's eight, and then it's sixteen. And it
has this exponential effect to it where the flame will
pick up paste and pick up paste and pick up
past until everyone in the room has their candle it.
This is my way of lighting my candle and handing
that candle to you to light yours as well. And specifically,
(19:32):
I want to talk about this idea of how I
think the most effective way for any single one of
us to join the revolution is to put pen to paper.
I think the obvious and most common pushback to this
is going to be, well, I don't have a platform
or I don't have it. This is what authors say
to me when they say I have this book, idea,
this message that's coming through that. You know, I think
(19:54):
I have something that I want to say or something
I want to put into a book, but I'm not
sure that anybody's going to read it, or I'm not
sure it'll make a difference. I don't have a platform.
No one would ever publish me. You know, I've never
written anything before. Why would anyone, you know, listen to
what I have to say. This is the same exact
objection that comes up when someone has a book that
they want to write, and I think it's the objection
(20:16):
here too. People say, well, like, what difference could it
possibly make for me to put pen to paper? And
I just want to really linger on this for just
a second because I want to remind you that when
you pick up your pen and put it to paper,
you are doing something so much bigger than just an
act of publishing. And I feel like in some ways
(20:38):
that should go without saying. This is obvious, but I
just want to remind you that when you pick up
a pen and put it to paper, the first thing
that's happening is you're transforming yourself. You're coming into alignment
with who you are, with what you were put here
to do, with what your unique purpose is. You're coming
into alignment with your own truth. You're reminding yourself of
who you really are, You're reminding yourself of what you
(20:59):
really believe. In some ways, when you put pen to
paper a year discovering for the first time what you
really believe, or how you really feel, or what you
think about things, or you're reminding yourself of experiences that
you've had that have informed the way that you view
the world. And right now, more than ever, we need
your unique viewpoint. We need your unique vantage point. Avoid
(21:21):
the temptation, which is very easy to do, to just
jump onto bandwagon of what everyone else is saying, I
think it's so easy for that to happen right now,
And maybe because I've been in a relationship with a
narcissist before, I see the manipulation tactics that are happening
in the ethos right now, And I watch people who
I know are really good people deep down, who I
(21:41):
know have good hearts, who I know don't want to
be on the wrong side of history, who are getting
like looped up or like swept up in this cult
like movement of Donald Trump, And it's so bizarre to watch,
But at at the same time, because I've been in
(22:01):
a relationship with a narcissist, I really understand how this works.
It is manipulation, it is brainwashing, it is propaganda. It's
extremely effective. And in fact, someone told me after my divorce,
you know, I was feeling really guilty for all of
the ways that I collaborated with my now ex husband
to commit all kinds of like you know, I don't know,
illegal acts, like some of them I didn't know about
(22:23):
that were happening at the time, but some of them
were just kind of not necessarily illegal, but just like
unkind or sort of emotionally violent. I guess is how
I would describe it. But some of them really were
were just unethical, maybe not illegal, but unethical. That's the
word I'm looking for. So on a sliding scale from
just unkind to unethical, I cooperated with him for years,
(22:46):
for four years, to make all kinds of choices that
were outside of alignment with my own set of values.
And so I really understand that slippery slope and how
that can work, and how you can become swept up
and you can feel like your own sense of safety
is un threat and if you don't obey and follow
what this person is telling you to do, that you
will be unsafe, that you'll put yourself in the line
(23:08):
of fire. And I just want to validate and affirm
and confirm that it is true that when you choose
to stand up against an abuser, you are putting yourself
in the line of fire. You absolutely are putting your
own body at risk, putting your own sense of safety
at risk, whether that's psychological safety or physical safety. You
are putting yourself at risk. You absolutely are. So you
(23:30):
are not crazy to feel that way. And in fact, again,
after I left that relationship, I looked back and thought
like one of the reasons why I didn't leave is
because I was afraid he would come after me. I
was afraid that I would be killed, truly. I mean
I told friends, if I go missing, look in his trunk,
because that's where I will be. And I don't know
how accurate I was necessarily about how violent he would
(23:51):
be with me, but I knew in my gut what
he was capable of, and I was terrified of him.
And so if you're terrified right now to speak up
against this current regime, no wonder you should be terrified.
And also now is the time to take action. But
(24:17):
going back to what I said a minute ago, I
was telling a friend about how much guilt I had
over this, feeling like I had cooperated and corroborated him
and his story and his way of seeing things outside
of my own integrity. And she just reminded me, She said,
you know, he was an amazing manipulator. You need to
remember that you were under his brainwashing, you were under
(24:38):
his authority, and until that spell broke, it was really
like you were missing. Your own sense of self was missing,
and so you were just like upon in his game.
And I really feel like so many people right now
are just upon in Donald Trump's game, whether or not
you know, we were talking about like people who are
(24:59):
like directly associated with him, like Jade Bance for example,
but even beyond that, like people who are not in
government or politics at all, but who are just getting
swept up in the narrative that he is driving home
like an absolute expert manipulator. And I can watch the
spell it's breaking in certain groups of people, and the
(25:19):
longer this goes on, I just pray the more that
spell breaks and the more people wake up and go
like I cannot get on board with this, I cannot
be okay with this, Like this is not working for me.
This is so far outside of my own value system
and my own integrity, like I refuse to keep covering
for him. And I hope more and more people come
to that place. I'm hoping that my choice to speak
(25:41):
up in this way on this platform at this time,
I'm really hoping that even one other person goes like, yeah, yeah,
it's outside of my integrity too. And if it genuinely
isn't outside of your integrity, then like I don't even
know what to say, Like if if grabbing an innocent
child off of the streets outside of their school and
(26:04):
taking them out of state to a detainment center. If
that is an outside of your integrity, then I don't A.
I don't think you're probably listening to this podcast, but
B I genuinely don't even know what to say to you,
Like I would just ask you to do some soul searching,
but I think for the reality is that for most
of us, like if you're listening to this episode and
(26:24):
you really check in with yourself, the chances are quite
high that that is outside of your own integrity and
that that's not something that you want to stand behind.
And my encouragement to you would be my invitation to
you would be to join the revolution by picking up
the pen and putting it to the page and admitting
to yourself what's true. It always starts there. It always
starts with putting the pen to paper, admitting to yourself
(26:46):
what is true, coming back into alignment with yourself, trusting
your own self, your own perception of things, your own
eyeballs and what your eyeballs are seeing, Trusting that over
and above anything that anybody is going to tell you,
any narrative that anyone else wants to spin about this,
Like see what you see, and trust what you see,
trust yourself, and come back into integrity with your own self.
(27:08):
And I'm not saying that you've got to get on
Instagram and start, you know, like stirring up drama or
having chaota conversations. There's even yesterday, as I was thinking
about this, because I was spending more time on my
phone than I normally do, just because we were snowed in.
Nothing was working, the power was out, so I'm scrolling
on my phone and I'm the timing is wild. You
have to admit the timing as wild. The city of
(27:29):
Nashville is covered in ice, and I'm sitting on my
phone with nothing else to do, watching this horrific scene
unfold on Instagram, over and over again, watching every single
camera angle, watching what every single person has to say
about it, reading the comments, and hearing, really hearing. You know,
I guess most of what shows up in my algorithm
(27:50):
is probably on my side of the isle ish, although
I do. I see myself as a really moderate Democrat,
so I do get some you know, more like modern
Republican stuff in my algorithm too. But then I'd see
someone post a reel and then the comments is where
you really see the other side of the argument, or
(28:10):
like the I don't know, I'm going to call off
the trolls come out because you see people say some
really horrific stuff that just feels like is this a bot?
Because I can't fathom ever saying something like this to
a real person on the Internet. But so I'm scrolling
through all of that, like watching this all in full,
just thinking like the timing is wild, because if my
life were going as usual, if we hadn't slowed down yesterday,
(28:31):
I probably wouldn't seen most of that. And it made
me go like, do I need to get on Instagram
and start talking about this? Like I made the decision
not to get on Instagram and do that, to use
this platform instead. And there are a couple of reasons
for that that I don't need to go into huge
depth on, but one of the main reasons is I
just feel like the platform on Instagram, the short form content,
(28:53):
doesn't really lend itself to having the kind of conversation
that I feel ready to have at this point. There
may come point, probably in the near future, where I
do use that platform as well, and for now I'm
reposting what other people are sharing that I think is
really powerful or gets at the point, or you know,
they say what I wanted to say in a way
that I couldn't have set it. So I'm reposting that
(29:14):
stuff on that platform. But I definitely wanted to use
this platform to talk about what I'm processing and what
I'm going through and to invite you into this with
me and to It's my way of holding out my
candle to light your candle, to say, don't forget that
your perspective matters, that the way you see things is
unique and valuable and purposeful and meaningful. Don't forget that
(29:37):
you have this tool accessible to you. It's called writing,
where you can pick up a pen and you can
be reminded of who you are and what you're here
for and what your unique message is. And don't forget
that now is the absolute most important time that you
could be doing that. And especially if you're a caregiver
to young children or maybe to aging parents, or if
there are other reasons you have other people depending on you,
(29:59):
and there are other reasons why you can can't really
get out there and march the streets and put yourself
in physical danger, that using your voice is the way
to join the revolution right now. Using your voice, standing
up for what you believe in, speaking up about what
matters to you is the way to join the revolution.
And it may be that you have three minutes a
day or three minutes in the morning and three minutes
(30:19):
in the evening to really quickly repost something that someone
says on Instagram or whatever the version is that works
for you. Don't underestimate the value of your throwing your
hat in the ring. Do not underestimate yourself. Do not
underestimate your voice, your words, your participation, your energy. Whatever
(30:40):
you can add to the pot is important, is valuable,
it matters. Now is not the time to get complacent.
Now is the time to get really serious about coming
back into our own integrity. So that's my invitation for you,
that's my encouragement. I hope this meets you where you are.
I hope that you hear the love in my voice
(31:03):
and in this message. And I want to offer you
a little prompt that you can use just to write
for five minutes today or ten minutes or twenty minutes
right at the top of your paper, what do I
see with my own eyes today? What do I see
with my own eyes today, and what you see with
your own eyes will probably range from maybe what you're
(31:24):
seeing on social media. Maybe you're seeing the same things
that I'm seeing about what's happening in Minnesota right now,
you're seeing, you know, fifty thousand people come out and
seb sero temperatures to protest what's happening with ice in
the state of Minnesota. Maybe part of what you're seeing
with your own eyes, like what I'm seeing is your
kids giggling at the little puppet show that they put
on with their stuffed animals. Maybe part of what you're
(31:45):
seeing with your own eyes is you know whether that's
going on outside of your window, whatever it is, like,
it might be a very interesting collage of all kinds
of different things. But I want you to trust what
you see with your own eyes today, and I want
you to come back to your own perception of things
and remember that your perception of things matters, that you
(32:07):
were part of this giant kaleidoscope of the way that
we all see the world. I hope you find that
process grounding. I hope you find it helpful, and I
hope that I will see you back here next week
on The Writer Story podcast. What do you need to
tell me? Do you know that Nelle's not going to
(32:27):
earn a star today because she never gave me a bobo? Never,
She's not going to eat her ice cream. She did
offer you a bobo. I heard her offer you a
strawberry bobo. I like strawbery. Well okay, well here I
can help you with snacks after I record my episode.
Can you go watch your show so I can go episode?
(32:48):
Thank you. Can you shut the door please? Sure, thank you,
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.