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 | Jan 12, 2021 | empathy, personal narrative, self-consciousness, self-image, self-worth, trauma, vulnerability, walks with grief
Did I have enough time to take a good shower and dry my hair before the call? If not, was I willing to go through the video call with wet hair? [Side note: I’m not one of those women who looks cute and dewy after stepping out of the shower. My face gets flushed from rosacea, and my stringy hair makes me look rather like a drowned rat. In other words, I generally try to avoid having people see me in such a state.] If I didn’t take a shower then, was I willing to spend the rest of the day feeling gross? [Another note: This is the pandemic, so you know, it had indeed been, um, a whiiiile since the last shower.]
by Shannon Turner | Dec 8, 2020 | Blog, personal narrative, self-consciousness, self-worth, vulnerability
What emerged was an essay, “The Garlic Epiphany,” comprised of short reflections on a world without him, a world where his voice was silenced, how I struggled to feel alive on some days spent stretched out for too many hours on the couch he’d left to me. The title came from the ending where I was struck with the very sensory experience of standing at the stove, stirring garlic in a pan, the pungent odors and crackling sounds washing over me…
by Shannon Turner | Nov 17, 2020 | Blog, trauma, vulnerability, walks with grief
A spiritual walk with grief in some ways is, and in some ways is not, like these paths. A walk with grief, especially at the beginning, is more like being totally off the grid, mucking around, with no discernible path at all.
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 | Sep 25, 2019 | Blog, nostalgia, vulnerability, walks with grief
I’m pleased to share that I had a story recently published in an online journal called gutwrench. This is by far one of the most vulnerable pieces I’ve ever written. I’m hoping to include it in my upcoming book, Walks with Grief. Click here to read...