Hal, your openness is deeply felt, and your mission carries so much heart. Sharing fragments of ourselves, especially the hard-earned ones, is no small thing. Thanks for making space for both history and humanity here. 🙏
Looking to learn, grow, expand, and connect through shared human experiences. I am open to new things and serving the highest good. Sometimes there is a mutual creative spark ✨️ and for that I am grateful. It's a combination of seeking and allowing the right things to find their way to me. Somehow it happens! I am passionate about art and creativity and enjoy broadening my perspective in a variety of ways.
Hal — I appreciate the invitation, and the honesty beneath it.
Why am I here?
In short… because I’m done confusing being needed with being loved.
And the longer version?
I spent a long time giving too much of myself away — in relationships, in work, in the quiet performance of being “the safe one.” When I finally admitted that I was being used — not partnered — by someone I loved, I stopped looking outward for answers and began tracing the shape of that pattern all the way back. To my mother. To the boy I used to be. To the silence I learned to fill by disappearing.
That reckoning didn’t just change my life — it changed how I write, build, connect, and show up. It’s what fuels my work now: storytelling that honors emotional truth, tools that support clarity and self-trust, and a steady belief in people’s ability to return to who they really are.
Substack, for me, is a space of remembering.
Not just to be read, but to witness and be witnessed.
To tell stories that don’t flinch from grief or mistake tenderness for weakness.
To reflect, recalibrate, and offer something useful to others walking a similar edge.
I’m not here to teach from a mountaintop. I’m here to walk with others who are finding their way back to themselves — through language, through presence, through a refusal to disappear.
Thanks for asking a question that invites us to answer with our whole selves.
Great thoughts and question. I'm here to connect, mostly. Writing and life can feel lonely, and Substack feels like this sort of wondrous collective mirror--a way for us to understand ourselves more deeply in another's reflection
I am very bad at answering life's whys, but I am here sharing, growing, and growing through sharing. For now... that's it. I'd like to learn how to pitch a full memoir to a publisher - I've got a wild story and about 10% (probably being overly generous there) of a written manuscript - need help and cash to make it all happen.
Hal — I appreciate your invitation and the openness behind it.
Why am I here on Substack?
In short… to contribute to the slow, necessary work of re-humanizing the world.
And the longer version?
I’m a storyteller, educator, and quiet systems-thinker drawn to the intersection of personal healing and planetary health. My mission is to help people reconnect — with themselves, with each other, and with the natural world we’re all part of. Through writing, reflection, and gentle advocacy, I hope to spark a kind of mindful remembering: of who we are, what matters, and how we might live differently.
It’s not about big declarations or grand expertise — it’s about weaving a tapestry of insight, care, and lived experience that helps guide us toward a more sustainable, regenerative, and soul-rooted future.
Substack, for me, is a space to share what I’ve learned, unlearn what no longer serves, and grow alongside others who are walking their own paths of depth and clarity. Every connection here teaches me something — and for that, I’m deeply grateful.
Thank you for creating a space that welcomes those kinds of conversations — and for the meaningful work you’re doing through Harrowings and your foundation.
I came here to dance in the digital unlimited canvas of imagination and creativity that’s blooming along the pathways we walk. Sometimes that in the form of poetry, other times long form, intentionally provocative essays. Most everything I write downloads to me. It’s like tuning into a channel. And it’s wonderful to find other like-minded creatives and vulnerable souls out on these “airwaves.” Communitas is possible when we create it consistently and consciously.
When I see a term or concept I’ve not encountered before, it piques my curiosity.
Oh no -- I've already forgotten how I landed on Substack, but it's a weekly commitment now, and I'm grateful for it.
Hal, your openness is deeply felt, and your mission carries so much heart. Sharing fragments of ourselves, especially the hard-earned ones, is no small thing. Thanks for making space for both history and humanity here. 🙏
Looking to learn, grow, expand, and connect through shared human experiences. I am open to new things and serving the highest good. Sometimes there is a mutual creative spark ✨️ and for that I am grateful. It's a combination of seeking and allowing the right things to find their way to me. Somehow it happens! I am passionate about art and creativity and enjoy broadening my perspective in a variety of ways.
Hal — I appreciate the invitation, and the honesty beneath it.
Why am I here?
In short… because I’m done confusing being needed with being loved.
And the longer version?
I spent a long time giving too much of myself away — in relationships, in work, in the quiet performance of being “the safe one.” When I finally admitted that I was being used — not partnered — by someone I loved, I stopped looking outward for answers and began tracing the shape of that pattern all the way back. To my mother. To the boy I used to be. To the silence I learned to fill by disappearing.
That reckoning didn’t just change my life — it changed how I write, build, connect, and show up. It’s what fuels my work now: storytelling that honors emotional truth, tools that support clarity and self-trust, and a steady belief in people’s ability to return to who they really are.
Substack, for me, is a space of remembering.
Not just to be read, but to witness and be witnessed.
To tell stories that don’t flinch from grief or mistake tenderness for weakness.
To reflect, recalibrate, and offer something useful to others walking a similar edge.
I’m not here to teach from a mountaintop. I’m here to walk with others who are finding their way back to themselves — through language, through presence, through a refusal to disappear.
Thanks for asking a question that invites us to answer with our whole selves.
Robert
https://www.brittleviews.com/
Great thoughts and question. I'm here to connect, mostly. Writing and life can feel lonely, and Substack feels like this sort of wondrous collective mirror--a way for us to understand ourselves more deeply in another's reflection
I am very bad at answering life's whys, but I am here sharing, growing, and growing through sharing. For now... that's it. I'd like to learn how to pitch a full memoir to a publisher - I've got a wild story and about 10% (probably being overly generous there) of a written manuscript - need help and cash to make it all happen.
Hal — I appreciate your invitation and the openness behind it.
Why am I here on Substack?
In short… to contribute to the slow, necessary work of re-humanizing the world.
And the longer version?
I’m a storyteller, educator, and quiet systems-thinker drawn to the intersection of personal healing and planetary health. My mission is to help people reconnect — with themselves, with each other, and with the natural world we’re all part of. Through writing, reflection, and gentle advocacy, I hope to spark a kind of mindful remembering: of who we are, what matters, and how we might live differently.
It’s not about big declarations or grand expertise — it’s about weaving a tapestry of insight, care, and lived experience that helps guide us toward a more sustainable, regenerative, and soul-rooted future.
Substack, for me, is a space to share what I’ve learned, unlearn what no longer serves, and grow alongside others who are walking their own paths of depth and clarity. Every connection here teaches me something — and for that, I’m deeply grateful.
Thank you for creating a space that welcomes those kinds of conversations — and for the meaningful work you’re doing through Harrowings and your foundation.
I came here to dance in the digital unlimited canvas of imagination and creativity that’s blooming along the pathways we walk. Sometimes that in the form of poetry, other times long form, intentionally provocative essays. Most everything I write downloads to me. It’s like tuning into a channel. And it’s wonderful to find other like-minded creatives and vulnerable souls out on these “airwaves.” Communitas is possible when we create it consistently and consciously.