My hard truths.
On true things about myself that I have a hard time facing, but wanted to share with the world.
In March of 2022, I temporarily posted to an anonymous Instagram page under the handle "herhardtruths.” At the time, I wrestled daily with the hard truths I was finding hard to navigate about myself. On this page, I would post two graphics at a time. The first detailed the hard truth that I was facing. And the second was an affirmation of the opposite that I wanted to be true.
One thing that I have learned about writing deeply personal thoughts and feelings is that sometimes our hard truths are hard to face and serve as a mental block. Sometimes, the only way to get those hard truths out or acknowledge them is to separate yourself from them. Not in a form of denial or avoidance, but a way to release the weight of those words in the moment by assigning them to whichever pronoun you use. So instead of saying “I woke up wanting to die today,” I would instead write “She woke up wanting to die today.” Of course, I knew I was talking about myself, but the words flowed a bit more freely when I could disconnect from them. This is just one of many techniques that have improved my writing practice, thanks to
.While doing some digital decluttering (I feel like I’m in a perpetual state of decluttering), I came across the file where I kept the posts from that page and wanted to share them here. Mainly because I am proud of my growth and being able to own and openly share things that I once, and sometimes still do, felt were too shameful to share.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F55713dfc-3e45-4a8e-a671-eaac7c58ded8_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd67a939-46fd-4b94-9de6-b5eccfa0b66c_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4163c58e-41d9-47fa-bcc4-497abb4516e1_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F818e8062-36a3-4b71-8524-8a0f7cb5ff41_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa057c4d1-bec2-45b6-8f26-7f58938e025b_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F30f46fd4-c056-4016-871d-9d7d2d1d0d71_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe6434791-44c9-44aa-bbc3-831cb66d0600_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe88503ee-0b6f-46e4-8e35-45e44fe4a938_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff5524b1a-17ce-469a-836f-f87093f59da0_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6dbc0d2-f19c-4371-85d6-f9f1c7592eab_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd761d088-f2fd-41ee-8e62-041f04478748_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F735494e5-23d5-4da2-94a9-6079e3cfb24c_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F09af66c5-badb-42ca-9da7-d0a8d6a4af43_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffea5db8d-0af4-486b-9623-a3b0beab638a_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f68dcc5-5828-48b7-a07e-f7b313782945_2160x2160.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff097ac40-f47f-4224-b028-ce5497bbdf5d_2160x2160.jpeg)
I hope that by sharing my hard truths with you, you are able to own and/or share yours as well. Even if only with yourself.
🌞