Member-only story

You Own Your Life Story

It’s yours to tell. Even if other people feel hurt.

Zach J. Payne
3 min readOct 9, 2019
Photo by kIRK lAI on Unsplash

When I’m not trying to peddle writing advice, I write a lot about myself and my life. Most of it (like me, myself) is very unflattering.

There’s something kind of therapeutic about the whole idea of pulling apart all of the ugly pieces in the dark, and trying to find a shimmer of starlight on the parts that don’t suck so bad. It’s a kind of public journalist, self-flagellation, auto-therapy, and passing down advice to the next generation and the rest of the world, all at the same time.

Sharing your truth in all of its brutal glory is a worthwhile cause, especially in a world that values the superficial.

Even if there are some people who’ll get upset about it.

I never understood the mentality that people should keep their problems to themselves. I’ve never liked the idea that certain things shouldn’t be talked about with other people, just because they don’t share the dubious honor of being a relative.

Oh, that’s a family thing. We don’t air our dirty laundry.

The problem with that is that your dirty laundry is your shared humanity. Your dirty laundry is a way of connecting with the rest of the world. It’s how we remind each other that we’re more than the…

--

--

Zach J. Payne
Zach J. Payne

Written by Zach J. Payne

(He/They) Poet. Thespian. YA Novelist.

Responses (5)