Stories to Tell – Page 2

It feels a little weird opening this little thing again. Hey guys, how have you been?

I’ve been doing a lot lately, and will be doing a lot again, in the next few months. Sometimes I still get that surreal feeling when I remember some things, and then I snap into the present and find myself…well, okay with where I am. Thankful, even.

But enough of the cryptic stuff. Let me share something a friend sent me in an email one time:

There are so many things people will tell you […] but the greatest thing, in my opinion, is that it is something that is uniquely […] your own. It’s a chapter in your life that is absolutely dependent on your humility to learn and grow.

I like that, how our stories are uniquely our own. How each of our stories may look the same, but it isn’t completely the same, too. But the cool thing about our stories is even if it is uniquely, beautifully our own, we can learn a lot from other people’s stories. Our stories are different, but it connects us to one another. It reminds us that even if we have to go through some of our stories on our own, we are still not completely alone.

And I want to highlight those stories. So say hello to my latest blog feature, Stories to Tell.

Stories to Tell is about your story. Share your story — about family, friends, pets, strangers. Love, heartbreak, grief, happiness. Doing everything and doing nothing. Searching and finding and losing.Â Your favorite things that will always make you happy, or the things that used to make you happy but now don’t. Your most favorite person in the world. A life-changing trip. Places you want to see. A letter to your past, or future self. It is my hope that in showcasing these stories here, we all find something in them, and we remember that we are not alone.

I’ve invited several friends to be my first guest bloggers, so you will read their stories here in the next few weeks. If you’re interested in being a guest blogger for this feature, send me an email at hello[at]tinamats.com (or use this form) with your story, following these guidelines:

Stories to Tell Guest Feature: ((Oh, and a little disclaimer: All stories will be screened, and I claim the right to refuse to post stories on my blog if they go against my beliefs/values, and/or if they are disrespectful to other people. Let’s all play nice, okay?))

Max of 1000 words, and a title for your story
Stories can come in any format – essay, poetry, creative nonfiction, or even art.
Feel free to include photos for your story.
Please include a bio (50-100 words), with any links you want me to add (your blog, your Twitter, etc). If you want to be anonymous, it’s okay, too. I’ll just try describe you without revealing who you are. :D

I’m looking forward to reading (and sharing) your stories. :)

Oh, and I’ll be back soon, I promise. With stories to tell, too. :)

Sara Bareilles released a new album called The Blessed Unrest the other day and I’ve been listening to her song Chasing the SunÂ on repeat:

[youtube WFFberbflbU]

I love the entire song, most especially the chorus:

You said, remember that life is
Not meant to be wasted
We can always be chasing the sun!
So fill up your lungs and just run
But always be chasing the sun!

It just sounds so hopeful, don’t you think?

* * *

I’m going to take a little blogging break.

When 2013 started, I had this plan of blogging (at least) once a week, so when the year ends, I’d have around 52 posts for this blog. Plus I figured it’s some kind of commitment to find something interesting to blog every week, and it’s not as hard as blogging everyday for an entire month (believe me, I tried that).

But…things haven’t been exactly smooth sailing these past few days. I think it’s obvious from my previous posts? If you’d allow me to be brutally honest, I’m not really okay right now. I would normally write my heart out here while I sort out everything (as I have done in the past weeks), but this time, I don’t really feel like doing it. There are too many things that I need to come to terms with, and frankly, I just don’t feel like writing about them here. It doesn’t feel right just yet. Maybe sometime later, I guess. I don’t know. But definitely not now. I figure I should keep them to myself for the time being.

Hence this break. I might post a little bit every now and then. Something random or whatever. Heh, it’s not like I have a ton of readers, anyway, but to the five or six (or so. hehe) of you who read this, then please bear with me a little bit. :)

I’m just going to go and chase the sun for a little bit while I figure some things out.

But don’t worry, I’ll be back.

And I’ll be okay, promise. :)

Oh and I’ll still be here, anyway. And here. And if you know me in real life, ((Let’s hang out or something. I’d love to catch up.)) you know how to reach me.

* * *

Why don’t you tell me a story, instead?

I’ve been toying with this idea for a while now, about inviting friends as guests to my blog so they can share their story. I never really had the time to work on it until now, since I’m going on this break. So instead of reading about…well, me, you’ll be reading about the stories of other people. I’ve always believed that we all have stories to tell, and so I’m opening my blog to people who want to share their story. One of my most favorite artists sang it well:

Thereâ€™s life to be lived, and stories to tell, lessons to learn, we donâ€™t know yet.
Nothing to lack looking back knowing that we have lived it well with stories to tell.

Tell me a story. Any story. Family, friends, loved ones, pets. Funny, happy, sad, tragic. Tell me something you’ve been wanting to talk about, or something that you feel that should be told. It doesn’t have to be inspiring or religious or life-changing — just tell your story. Let’s start from there.

Interested? Leave a comment on this post, or drop me a line and let’s talk. :)