by Shannon Turner | Mar 17, 2022 | authenticity, disordered eating, food, grief, self-image, self-worth, vulnerability, walks with grief
The first time it happened, it was really unplanned. I was twelve. My best friend had thrown me over for cooler girls. There I sat at home on a Friday night, not at a slumber party with the rest of them. So, I invited Loneliness over to hang out. Always so obliging, so eager, that Loneliness. Unlike me, she never begrudged being the substitute friend when there was no one better or more interesting to fill the social calendar.
by Shannon Turner | Mar 2, 2021 | authenticity, Blog, college, nostalgia, personal narrative, self-image
Somewhere in the middle of that discussion, I was hyperlinked back in time to this moment in my early twenties when I had yet another temp job, sitting in the lobby of an insurance company. I was subbing in for the receptionist who was on vacation. On the final day, I listened to the staff upstairs as they enjoyed their holiday party while I sat and looked out the window, watching ice pile up on my car…
by Shannon Turner | Feb 25, 2021 | authenticity, Blog, empathy, pandemic, vulnerability, workshops
There’s an invisible mountain of emotional weight that comes with someone’s itchy trigger finger on the mute button. That seemingly small impediment, the blocked red microphone icon, prevents spontaneous thought from bubbling up, spilling forth, being shared in the moment.
by Shannon Turner | Oct 20, 2020 | authenticity, Blog, self-image, self-worth, vulnerability
I would never buy a bottle of water.
Many people who know and love me recognize that I have this kind of extreme hangup about environmental waste, carry my own water bottle pretty much everywhere. Given that water in this country is often free and clean, I always wonder why more people don’t insist on doing the same. The answer, of course, is that we’ve been marketed out of understanding and believing it.
by Shannon Turner | Oct 13, 2020 | authenticity, Blog, happy stories, walks with grief
A single gal who lives alone, I listen to a lot of podcasts. They fill up my days, and my ears. I started to have a little fantasy that each of my walks was its own episode of a super niche podcast. Each walking buddy was my co-host, sidekick, guest, and micro-audience all at the same time…
by Shannon Turner | Apr 6, 2020 | authenticity, Blog, COVID-19, manifesting stories, pandemic, walks with grief
I’ve missed you. I have been struggling mightily with what to say to you during these strange times. In the first weeks, the (sur)reality of pandemic descended upon us. Our inboxes filled up with “how we’re dealing with COVID messages” from...