Who Are You People and Why Are You Following ME?!
Confession: this is my first essay for Medium. First time poster, long time lurker (since March 2022), encouraging commenter, and enthusiastic clapper.
Despite my slow start, I already have an amazing 192 followers! Thank you, kind strangers! As this is my first published piece, it begs the questions:
Who are you?
How did you find me?
Tell me, why are you here?
Not in the global, cosmological sense like ‘what is your life purpose?’ Let’s save that topic for a future essay. I mean, why are you here, now? Was it the compelling headline, quirky author name, scintillating About statement?
OK, I’ll get this conversation started…
My friends made me do it. About a year ago, members of my writer’s group challenged each other to start a blog. Medium wasn’t the initial platform we had it mind, but it was so easy and welcoming. All of the other writers jumped right in and have been crafting and publishing articles, essays, memoirs, and diatribes for almost a year. And they still found time to work on their novels.
I have my reasons for being so late to join the other writers. OK, maybe they are excuses rather than reasons; I’ll have to Google the differences.
I continued to work full-time as a freelance medical writer until recently cutting back to just one client. The owners of my rental unit decided to put the condo on the market for sale, so I had to scramble to move with 4-weeks notice. Then there were the holidays. Oh, and grandkids to babysit. That all took a lot of time and energy!
Admittedly, the most significant reason for my slow start in joining my friends in writing for Medium was fear. To be honest, I’ve been scared sh*tless. Writing can be such an intimate and revealing process. After years of dysfunctional romantic relationships, chronic pain after a car accident and multiple surgeries, endless talk therapy, and multiple antidepressants, I’m exhausted with the effort necessary to hold it in and keep it all together.
What cracked me open, finally, was ketamine therapy. A series of intravenous injection administered by an infusion nurse (under the supervision of a psychiatrist) in an informal clinical setting with dimmed lights and meditation music. It was transformational. More on that topic to come.
In the meantime, I’d like to use Medium to explore the use of writing to heal, create, and communicate. I want to:
· Discuss ideas, books, politics, and contemporary culture
· Share my ketamine research and experiences
· Exorcise some childhood demons and nightmares
· Talk about aging, parenting, sex, loneliness, grief, work, health, fears, friendship, and other unfinished business
This journey will contain unequal parts confession, humor, hope, optimism, and gratitude.
I hope you will join me in this exploration and keep following. Thanks for stopping by! Your turn…
