The Power Of Shared Experience
LVN Stories 2024 Wrapped
Revealing your stories heals their open wounds. The words you share breathe air into the lungs of hope.
- Beautiful Struggle.Shared experiences possess transformational power. Without them, you can feel alone in your experiences. But when you discover someone like you is walking a similar path — hope rises, and fears fade. Sharing our experiences, challenges, and aspirations breaks down barriers, forms connection, and inspires empathy. Ultimately, they make us feel more human and interconnected.
Before making the leap of faith with LVN Stories, I sensed it would be an impactful project, but like anything new, you don’t know till you know. Thankfully, the response has been positive. Your encouraging messages have validated my decision and provided a platform to pursue something I love — storytelling.
26 weeks. 26 stories. And many more to come. But, for now, I want to look back as we wrap up 2024.
Thank you so much to everyone who shared a reflection with me. Affording me your trust to share raw and honest experiences is not something I take lightly.
Now, for the review….
Rather than making this about metrics, LVN Stories Wrapped highlights the top themes explored throughout 2024.
Every story is unique, but there were some clear themes…
Many great reflections were shared. Let’s look at some highlights…
1. Finding Freedom:
You tasted freedom and never looked back…
:
Independent from the environment where I grew up, I began to feel free. Freedom became the most important thing for me.
~~~
:
Over the past year, I’ve grown in ways I could never have imagined if I had stayed in my old, comfortable surroundings.
My dream came true when I completed my yoga teacher training in India. I am travelling with my partner and working on my dream life daily.
I have never felt so free and content.
~~~
:
I may not have all that I wanted, but I’m peaceful. Because, no matter the outcome, I make choices that honour who I am.
2. Overcoming Fear & Suffering:
Nothing could hold you back…
:
My pain became a signal for me to change my life, to change course. It was my body's way of telling me it had been through enough, that the life I was managing was never going to move beyond survival.
~~~
:
No one knew the internal battle I was fighting but me. And I showed up to fight that battle every day, as courageously as I could. It’s a battle I will never stop fighting.
~~~
:
I am now on a path to let go of the fear that my name (and my words) might pop up on the screens of more and more people on Substack and see this as an opportunity to keep showing up with courage.
Never let anybody make you believe you are not enough because you are.
3. Following Instinct:
Instinct called and you answered…
:
My passion lies in evoking emotion, sparking thought, and provoking conversations through my art. Photography isn’t just what I do; it’s how I live loud. Loving what you do is living.
~~~
:
I didn't want to die wondering if I ever could have made a go of it with what my parents called ‘That music thing of yours.’
With my wife's blessing, I crafted a new path with one promise, ‘I'll only keep doing this as long as I make enough tonight to afford to do it again tomorrow.’
I kept that promise for twenty-five years, even while we raised our sons, a blueberry patch, and more than a few eyebrows on our small farm in southwest Virginia.
~~~
:
Instead of taking up painting or pickleball when I became an empty nester, I put the family nest up for rent and set off across the ocean with no particular destination in mind. There may be curveballs to come but fortune favors the bold, and I’m glad to be in the game.
4. Prioritising Wellbeing:
Physical and mental health mattered most to you…
:
The time had come to release my grip. I was tired of forcing the button to hold.
I peeled the pants off my body that day, and 90 pounds followed. I shed the weight, and my career was no longer a trophy symbol. I resigned from my job, and one more title followed—"wife" was the hardest to release. I sold everything I owned only to face myself in a different mirror 7,000 miles away.
~~~
:
It was such a powerful feeling. Tears pricked in my eyes, and I had to breathe deeply in and out. I felt butterflies in my stomach, my heart pumping, and a connection with my body that seemed lost.
~~~
:
Slowing down allowed me to follow my heart and notice the synchronicities.
5. Connecting With Nature:
You rediscovered the simplicity of your environment…
:
I started noticing patterns. The structure of tree limbs resembled the veins and arteries in my body. As did the crevices, valleys and streams running down cliffs, and rivers cutting through the land. And the fronds of ferns, the veins in leaves, the patterns forming on the ice on the windows during the coldest, snowiest, wildest winters I'd ever experienced.
I started to realise that everything was connected, that repetition was everywhere around me and within me, and that nothing seemed to be random.
~~~
:
For me, that has been the biggest lesson growing up. Jobs, friendship circles, and relationships all change, but the connection with nature remains a consistent source of joy.
~~~
:
Serendipity cannot find you when you are hiding. Next time someone recommends a place to go watch the sunset, listen to them.
~~~
If you’re new here, or you’ve followed the series and want to re-read your favourite stories from 2024 — view the full collection below.
Did your stories make a difference? Here’s what people are saying…
On the surface, LVN Stories is a storytelling platform. More importantly, it is a community-building platform where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued, one shared story at a time.
Been a fulfilling six months, to say the least. Excited to bring you more stories in 2025. In the meantime, I’ll be reflecting on how I can expand the impact and reach of our project.
If LVN Stories positively impacts you, there are a few ways you can support the project:
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Everyone has something to offer. This isn't about credentials — it's about life experiences, and everyone has those.
You can say hello via lvnclubstories@gmail.com.
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Live Free,
Niall
discovered you from the Mindful Writer. I'm looking forward to reading more!
Such a privilege to be featured in this extraordinary project alongside these inspiring and insightful difference makers. Thank you, Niall!