Welcome to the next year of your life!

Every single year we say the same thing: “THIS is going to be my year. I can FEEL it!” And then we look back and categorize them into good years vs. the bad years depending on if things went our way. We are victims to our experiences whether we are satisfied with them or not… because we continue to give away our power.

Not this year.

The best way to ensure that you have an amazing year… is to rewrite your story and change your paradigms.

Check out these true inspirations:

❤︎    A veteran nearly drinks himself to death before writing a book that captures the horror of living through a war. The writing helps him turn his life around.

❤︎    A young mother who learns she has stage four cancer as she holds her newborn asks the author to help her write her story before she dies. She starts a blog, writes her memoir, and survives.

❤︎    A beautiful woman carries twenty years of rage inside until she begins to write and share poems revealing her brutal rape. Her writing transforms her life.

❤︎    A now-famous writer hikes the Pacific Crest Trail to recover from the pain of loss and divorce. She tells the author, “My writing gives me the greatest catharsis of my life.” She writes a book that changes both her life and the lives of her readers.

❤︎    A father, engulfed in the pain of losing his six-year-old son at Sandy Hook Elementary, explains to the author how writing letters for the Sandy Hook Promise has allowed him to hold on to treasured moments with his son and keep his own sanity.

True stories like these are the heart of The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss  written by author Sandra Marinella. Upon facing breast cancer in 2012, she decided to leave teaching and write to heal. And she did.

During four years of research Marinella interviewed more than 100 writers. These unsung heroes share their painful stories and shed light on how writing can change us and redefine the way we live.

Writing to Heal

Expressive writing offers us physical, psychological, and social benefits. Studies in neuroscience has proven that our brains are wired for stories that define us and give us meaning. When we learn to “rewrite” or edit our personal stories, we transform ourselves as well as the lives of others.

On Today’s Show

Today we will talk about the power of expressive writing to help you navigate trauma from your own personal life experiences! You will definitely want to tune in today if you have been recently traumatized by:

▪The death of a loved one

▪Post-partum depression

▪A family member’s illness

▪Being in a relationship with an addict

▪Breaking out of an abusive relationship

▪Losing a job

▪Divorce

▪Cancer Treatments 
or even a significant life change!

Sandra Marinella, the author of The Story You Need to Tell, will be sharing with us the five stages of writing to heal — stages that anyone facing difficulty can employ to make their lives better.

Today’s Guest

Meet Sandra!

Sandra Marinella is an award-winning teacher and writer. In recent years she has taught more than 10,000 writers and given 200+ professional workshops. 
When she wasn’t grading essays and short stories late at night, she wrote self-help articles for teens and recorded her life experiences in journals. She raised two wonderful–albeit challenging–sons, made incredible life-long friends, read stacks of books, and ate entirely too much dark chocolate.

“WE CAN REWRITE OUR DIFFICULT STORIES AND TRANSFORM OUR LIVES.”

In 2012 when she faced breast cancer, Sandra turned her focus from teaching to writing as a way of healing. She began volunteering with veterans and cancer patients. As she watched writing help them to transform their lives, she discovered her new passion—sharing the power of their stories and the methods they used to heal their lives. 
After writing her book, Sandra founded the Story You Need to Tell Project where individuals can discover and learn the power of reworking and editing their personal life stories with the goal of finding hope, inspiration, and a better way of living.