Women's Stories To Change the World

I’m finally doing it! I am writing that long dreamed of book that I have been yearning to write.

My kick in the butt came from a very talented friend, writer and teacher, Jen Sincero, who teaches a class called “How to Write a Non-Fiction Book Proposal in 8 Weeks.” Jen lives in Venice, CA and has written two books, “Don’t Sleep with Your Drummer,” and “The Straight Girl’s Guide to Sleeping with Chicks.” Jen is a hoot and just the one I needed to get myself right to it and have fun! While my story is not about sex, it is about being naked.

Ten years ago I left an adventurer’s dream job at the National Geographic Society to take a year-long personal journey through Nepal and Southeast Asia. Before I left, I was asked if I wanted to take a laptop to report on stories from afar. While this could have been an outstanding career opportunity, I declined. This trip was for me … it was a personal journey. I wanted a trip where I could find my own rhythm, find my own pace and not be accountable to anyone but myself. I wanted to be naked -- with nothing between me and the experience.

Through my travels I found, ironically, that the farther I moved away from my comfort zone and the familiar, the closer I actually felt to the truth of my very own self. So what was keeping me from writing my book? Were my stories not worth telling?

In the ten years that have passed since that initial transformational trip (with many later that followed) I have come to realize that I cannot keep my stories to myself anymore. I feel that my stories and many women’s stories need to be told NOW.

But why the urgency?

As I look at the situation we are in nationally and globally, I wonder how we are going to pull ourselves out…make the shift…create the change. In my opinion, I think we need the strong work and wisdom of women in the formula. It feels as if there has never been such an important time for women to STEP UP, support each other and step more into our truth. One powerful way this can happen is by sharing our stories…and sharing them honestly. This is not to take men out of the equation by any means, but it is to put women more into the equation.

Maybe as women we need a little extra kick and faith that our story is worth telling? I know I did. I think that as we share our stories, we can shift our world onto a better path.

What is your story to tell? How will you tell it? When will you start?