Welcome to our blog: Two Truth - Two Voices
Why write a blog?
Hester:
Writing is more than an expression of who I am. It is one of the best ways I know to pull something out of myself and turn it into sense. Here on the page I 'see' it for the first time. Inside me it was felt, here - it can be known. And known not only by me, but seen and understood by others too. By risking to share what was once mine alone, I stand a chance of feeling witnessed and validated by others in my experience of being human. Sometimes, there are responses of 'me too!', in which case the vulnerability of exposing my truth in words is rewarded with authentic connection to others. It makes my heart swell. To connect with you by openly connecting with myself is why I am here.
In collaborating with my long time friend, Emma, this project has started with that quest for connection at its root. In parallel with opening space to write and not knowing what will arrive, we have opened space for each other, not knowing what themes might evolve. Joining minds with her not only connects us and enriches our friendship, but helps me to see myself from another angle. I do not know myself the way she knows me. My cousin Emily Maguire wrote in a song - "If I could see you the way you see yourself, I wouldn't recognise you". Our narrow views of ourselves need fleshing out by those who experience us over the years, who see who we are without the filter we ourselves apply to control, moderate, downplay, promote or conceal aspects of our personalities. The truth is, I trust Emma's feedback on my thoughts, feelings and writings more than I trust my own!
This 'Two Truths' blog site is simply a playground for us to write. But it could become All Our Truths, if readers wanted to interact in the comments, leaving their words on the site like a deposit box for expression. So here's an invitation to join us - let's take a risk and be human together. Messy, unresolved, works in progress.
Emma:
Writing allows me to put words and language to my experiences. It’s an exercise in trying to understand my feelings, choices I make, what motivates me and why I behave in certain ways, more fully. It provides a record of where I have been and where I am or would like to go.
I tend to live in my head a lot and my inner critic can be loud at times. Writing and putting pen to paper, or now a days, fingers to keyboard, is a way of ordering my thoughts and finding the clarity and path that I need to tread on this journey I am making.
As an ‘A-Level’ English student we studied Chaucer’s Pilgrim’s Progress – I loved it and the array of medieval characters that he brought to life. The image of a pilgrim has stuck with me over the years, the journey rather than the destination being the most important thing. Along the way you come across people who you journey with for a time, meet at cross-roads and stand and chat with for a while, those who help guide you when you feel lost, those who you laugh and cry with as you make your way along this journey, called life.
I write a personal journal, so I suppose the question is why put those writings out into the wide world for anyone to see? The answer is I don’t really know, am I seeking some sort of validation for my feelings? Possibly. Am I wanting praise for my writing and for someone to say, well done? Maybe. Perhaps what I write will help someone, that would be lovely. But I think my main motivation is that doing this allows me to spend ‘big talk’ time with Hester, explore where we are at in our lives, journey with someone whose company I enjoy and who along with her therapeutic work is a gifted word smith. Writing this blog with her has been a joy and if the only outcome is that we have spent time together, created some work, written poems, collated them onto the World Wide Web, and had fun then that’s more than enough for me!