Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.
In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.
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What To Do When It’s Your Turn
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“The body decides. The voice in your head narrates.”
Seth Godin
I have spent a lot of time taking turns. I have hurried and rested. I have rushed and waited. I have leaped and stood still. I have danced and crawled. What I know for sure about taking turns is the body knows. The body knows and then the body decides. The body decides before the voice in your head narrates. I have studied how the body knows — tapping into magic, paying attention, searching for wonder, noticing miracles, visiting shaman, bathing in healing waters, playing in imagination.
I agree with Godin that the body decides and the head narrates. The body decides what to create and our mind explores the as if and not yet. The body is about blood and guts and scar tissue and the mind builds a story. The body is about muscle memory and the mind is about the left and right brain.
I know several things for sure about taking a turn. It is my turn when I can do nothing else but take it. It is my turn when sweat and joy and dance. It is my turn when the headlights in my pitch black darkness guide. My turn is always right on time time.
About Katie
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From Louisville. Live in Atlanta. Curious by nature. Researcher by education. Writer by practice. Grateful heart by desire.
Buy the Book!
The Stage Is On Fire, a memoir about hope and change, reasons for voyaging, and dreams burning down can be purchased on Amazon.