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I honestly cannot remember the moment I thought - " Hey, I think I'm going to publish a podcast!"  If you've listened to any of my podcasts, specifically the one titled "Why I'm Such a Quitter", you may have learned that sometimes I get a brilliant idea (at least I think it's brilliant) and I go in guns blazing toward whatever project I'm envisioning, only to have it fizzle out a short time later. Despite the fact that I can't remember the exact moment this project came into my mind, I just can't stop thinking about it. I've been a writer for as long as I've been able to write and I started vlogging as a time saving way to stay on top of my ponderings after I had children. I guess from that view point, it makes sense that I would want to publish out into the world some of my curious musings. At first this really just started as a fun creative thing to do. I recorded episodes in my small home office and edited them in between the kids' bath times and school drop offs. When pandemic hit, I reprioritized my time and put away this fun "pastime" to focus on surviving the shelter in place. At the time I told myself, " well, this was just a for fun project anyway, I can put it away." The problem is, this podcast has lived in my mind and heart for the past five years. During this five year break, I have continued to write, journal, tell stories, and vlog, but I haven't published anything. This "fun project" started to feel less like a pastime, and more like a calling. What I've come to realize, perhaps from pandemic or the current mass illegal deportations, is the power of telling stories, highlighting truths, and breaking open silences about the human experience. This world feels so divided right now, and it has felt like that for so long. The divisions we create between one another, the huge chasms the exist between us are all illusions. The more silent we become about the truth of who we are; our struggles, our dreams, our lives, the more we perpetuate this illusion of separation. The truth is we are all so connected to one another. The simple truth of living on this planet together inextricably links us in ways that are hard to imagine, but impossible to deny. I feel called to tell my stories, the funny ones, the sad ones, the embarrassing ones, the hard ones. I feel called to learn more stories, because for me, learning other stories helps me to not only learn more about myself, but it helps me to learn more about the world. Looking out our windows it's not hard to find anger, hatred, and violence so fierce it can be overwhelming and hard to understand. A sense of community comes from stories about people who are like us and compassion and understanding lives within stories from people who are nothing like us. All of these delicate, and truthful stories told out loud become the threads that bring us together; challenging misconceptions, reinforcing values, and providing information that has the power to mobilize. That's what this space is. It's a space to listen, to learn, and to speak all of our truths Out Loud in the hopes that our colorful and diverse stories will shed light onto the darkest parts of the World. Here's to your stories and mine. Impact-Site-Verification: 97912a16-a48c-4845-a815-139c48294ef2 xoxox, Elena