Welcome to Community Shares

soft guidelines

You may have discovered this already, but I am always looking for ways to create connections and community. And I don’t think there is a greater way of doing that than by sharing stories. This may be why I am so attracted to traveling with women, sitting in circles, and having opportunities to witness other women share their experiences. It may not be for everyone, but for me, it’s pure gold.

And above all else, I want the feeling of connection for this space as well.

I want to share the stories by you, for you.

Connection starts when we can see ourselves in another person’s story.

I started using this platform in order to connect with this community on another level. The theme here is around feeling good. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t feel anything else. In fact, I believe in order to feel good, we must fully move through all of our feelings so we can create the space where the good can take hold and can live. Only then can we appreciate feeling good because we have been through it all and survived. Also, we are humans who feel everything. We are not about spiritual bypassing. We are about being unapologetic when it comes to our fullness and our wellbeing.

So in keeping with the feel-good theme here, tell us your story. Have you overcome something? Have you discovered something about yourself that amazed you? Have you created something? Have you ever been to the depths of despair and survived? How? What is your hero story? or are you still in it? What brings you hope? Have you learned something about yourself while traveling? Tell us how you are embracing the aging process. How have friendships changed? Did you color your hair pink or go gray naturally? How have you changed or stayed the same? Tell us what lights you up, what inspires you, what makes you feel good. Or simply share a picture that feels good to you and tell us why.

This community has been built mostly by women who have chosen a life free from alcohol. However, your story does not have to be about alcohol (but it certainly can be). We are whole humans, living a whole existence. We are more than what we quit. We are more than just one thing.

What I am looking to share is a story that tells us about who YOU are.

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Story Guidelines:

• No fiction. We want to connect with you and your story.

• Must be your own story, not someone else’s story.

• Less than 2000 words, that’s 4 pages (unless it truly takes away from the story, go for it). Your story can also be a snippet of something bigger. It can be a poem, short story, or a hero’s story. It could also be a picture with a paragraph to explain what is going on in said picture. The bottom line, be creative.

• You can remain anonymous to the readers or not. Your choice always.

• No selling of any products or services in your story.

• On editing: Please do not send rough drafts. The story you send to be shared here must be in its final stage and ready to be read by thousands of readers. Now listen, I am not a perfect writer however, I write perfectly in my own voice (and I use the service Grammarly). So no one is expecting a perfect piece of literature. But if you think you need it to be looked over, edited, and reviewed, ask a friend(s) to read it for you before sending the final cut.

To Submit:

• Submissions can only be accepted via email - hello@thesoberglow.com

• I will confirm with you when I receive your story and again when it will be shared.

• When a story is shared, there will be a short list of questions for the author to answer about themselves. Same list of questions for everyone.

To note: the community shares will always be part of the free version of this newsletter. You do not have to upgrade to write or read these shares!

If you have questions, leave it in the comments. I can’t wait to see what unfolds with this!

XX, M