Answering the, “Who Are You,” Questions.

“Tell me who you are in 4 or 5 pages,” the recruiter asked.
I am:
A reader.
A writer.
A teller of stories.

Things I love that aren’t my family:
Words and their meanings.
Starting a word roll. Or a thread. Or a word cloud.
Writing it all down.
Feeling good about it even though knowing it will be tweaked and edited. Because clarity, focus and information are the “money cards” for all things financial these days.

That said, I’m a stickler for the right words and especially the craft of writing.

I love launches and projects. Beginnings, middles and ends.
Live promotions, cold email, warm words. It all matters in importance to the promotion.

Truth is, without at least one project going — in different shapes and sizes of execution or completion, I’d be bored stiff.

What do you want?

As a kid, I read the backs of cereal boxes at breakfast.
And, I wanted every toy on that box.
‘Specially the dolls!

I saw myself playing princess or magical fairy or the occasional monster with them.
Positioned at the tops of mountains, they’d have to find ways to return to base camp below.

Halloween stories of witches and goblins and dungeons!
All fodder for my curious and growing mind.

Of course I didn’t get any back-of-the-box toys.
Instead, I ‘got’ something else.

I learned the stories I made up about playing with the dolls, fueled my imagination and made my young life interesting and fun. Not the dolls themselves.

So, I ditched the Barbie’s and Ken’s of this world and met up with Alice.
She was more fun.

Went down lots of rabbit holes to come out loving the winding, bumpy roads of life and the stories offered up.

If you wanted to look for them.

“How so,” you might ask. “How do you look and see and get what you want?”

First you decide.

I wanted the experiences of what life had to teach me.
Go on…

I figure things out. Plain and simple.
Choosing alternatives when there are too many choices can be brutal.
So, I make the choice smooth and easy.

All that needs to be done is to pick one.
Just one.
Sounds simple, right?
Hahaha — not so easy.

Taking your first steps is another thing altogether.

Making choices between one or the other is the thing to do next.
Which one will stand up to the reviews or the research out there?

How do we choose?

What are the buzz words that get the imagination going?
All this and more comes to mind.
Otherwise, you get lost in the weeds.

So.

Take that first step out of your place of comfort.
Go deeper than ever down those familiar rabbit holes.
Get lost for a time.
Return to this world.
Know and feel good about knowing; in your bones kind of knowing.

Priceless!

I learned that while we all want security and safety wrapped within our lives, what truly matters are the ways in which we achieve and arrive at the points of personal and professional wellbeing.

Where do I fit in with all of this?

Financial security isn’t something I was taught, and so my willingness to learn and share things financial now runs deep.

Historically, women weren’t allowed to have control over their financial lives.

The gentler sex meant the powerless ones.
We have since shown — over many generations — we are not powerless.
Nor gentle…
As for me, I’m a curious sort who wants to learn. And grow.
That means doing the research and the study of what we do as writers
We share thoughts and assumptions. Ponder the questions, big and small.
All through the act of storytelling.

We share our stories of family history; immigration.
The journey from war-torn lives and the genocide of native countries; how that affected our lives into today’s world of peace and safety.

We pass that on to the next generations…so they don’t forget.
Humanity and compassion matter.

Ultimately it becomes about voice and visibility. Owning that voice.
Whose voice?
Your voice.
The one deep inside.

The Voice of the Individual.
Your true voice.
Your authentic voice.

Is there a difference?

Using their language.
Getting it right.
Knowing their likes.
Dislikes.
Fears.
Risks.

So, the question ultimately is simple:

What does all of this mean to me as someone you’d want to trust to help you write that story that shouts at you?
I have a lifetime of experience and memories to draw from.
I can also point you in the right direction so you don’t wander too far away from your goals.

Is it time to repeat the past?
My answer is, “Never!”
That ship has sailed.
That train has left the station.
Let’s try something new; filled with ideas and creative somethings.
Sharing is possible, gives insight into the past mistakes and successes.

Why be uninspired and towing to the status quo?
That doesn’t get anyone anything but bored into silence and sleep.
And yet, it’s comfortable staying inside the lines.
Where nothing happens, especially growth.
All the action’s outside, on the edge. Where we need to live.

“Except when it comes to our money,” some will say.
And they’ll be right.

Right?

The cheap beer and vodka of younger days opens the door to good wine and deep topics of conversation later in life.

Thoughts about the future,
Where to put your money.
How and when to save or splurge on that vacation to Italy, France or Tahiti.

Who to trust.

The research shows X;
The curious details are tucked into the Y framework;
The answers lie somewhere at Z.
Or, maybe it’s an A/B split.

All researched information is presented in such a way that makes it seemingly easy to choose. And, the choices are built into the name of the game, Aren’t they?

My people don’t trust me because I speak their language. They trust me because I make a deeper connection with them. It’s intuitive, organic and even granular.

It’s my authenticity; the ability to be sensitive and vulnerable.
And not in a cheap or easy way, but thoughtful and comforting.

You need to be scared stiff to be fearless.

I live in my own skin. I am present.
Been there.

Bam!

Easy to say, easier to remember.
And we do remember. If we try.

It comes naturally to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, regardless of economic stations and status. They call it empathy. I call it intuitive sense.

I’m not always nice. I think awful thoughts and then regret them!
I want to be more of the image I see in front of me, but it fades out.
I laugh at my silly moments.
I laugh at myself!
I wish I was more sophisticated and noble.
I wish I was more playful and more of whatever it is I feel I’m lacking at the moment.

I also know it’s all a façade, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Life can be as difficult as we allow it.

I tough it out. That’s what I do. I also figure things out. That’s a secret sauce of mine. That and connecting with others on very deep levels.

I was a drama queen when I was younger.

My mother shook her head. She knew it wouldn’t last. How could it? She knew who I was long before I knew. Mothers can be like that.

I’m glad mine was.

She wasn’t a great cook though.

She built bazookas during the war. Best times of her life! My father “got skinny in New Guinea.” Malaria. Quinine was the cure.
That’s all I ever heard about WWII from them.

They watched the evening news during the Vietnam Era.
Every night.
Saw the real side of war.
As my dad experienced it back in his day.

No one talked about the unspeakable things.
Until now. It’s glib, an afterthought. Too bad…
Power is cool, but dying for it isn’t.

Same with the ‘MeToo’ movement. Voices opened up.
Spoke the unspeakable.
Made the unspeakable known.
Others tried to sweep it under the proverbial rugs.
Their shame too great in some cases.

It wasn’t your fault!

That’s where we come in as writers. We make it our business to know and uncover the truth.

Who am I again?

I’m Tina.
I’m ready to begin the process of going deeper.
Again.
Why?

My visibility wasn’t at stake.
Not until I discovered that no one cared about my voice.
Only their own.

Lots of pain and sorrow and grief over losing my voice until it returned.

I began to trust my voice.
Stopped playing small.
Recovered the who of who I am so that the I am was greater than the who of it all.

It is a powerful thing we have. Voice.
It’s filled with wonder and loving all of what comes along.

I write about these things. I help others write what they need to open up about.
It’s a gift and a curse.
I am a witness. I share what I know. Some of what I don’t know too.
I honor that.
I honor how life makes it all work.