So often when we experience something frightening, disheartening or downright traumatic, we are left a bit speechless.
But the feelings that we have, we carry inside. Despair, rage, confusion. For many of us, whether we consider ourselves writers or not, getting it down on paper somehow lifts the burden, just a little bit and lets some light in. Even a tiny bit.
More than that, by sharing about something you have experienced, you might just help someone else who is struggling with the same thing to find some courage or inspiration themselves. They will feel less alone. Trauma is isolating. It can make your world feel very small.
As we write we discover something and that it is part of the human experience that we suffer. Suffering is not unique but it is when it happens to you. Yet you might be surprised how good it feels to get it on paper, to look at it, to share it and to in some small way, begin to move on by legitimizing how you feel and knowing that just maybe you will help someone else feel less alone too.
The Tel Aviv Writer’s Salon has submitted several essays about the current conflict in Israel and the essays range in tone and in narrative. But each is heartfelt.
If you would like to submit an essay, about this or any conflict or trauma in your life – and I do not judge, by the way, there are breakups that are traumatic, there are small things that don’t feel so small –
IMPORTANT NOTE: Submissions must be 500 words or less and perfectly formatted and proofread in order to be considered.
Read the essays here – and see if any of them help you connect to your own feelings –