Authentic Fashion

Authentic fashion: 

what I've always hoped for was a medium that would allow me to share my writing with an appreciative audience, just large enough to feel my words have a certain reach yet still retaining a sense of intimacy and connection. Perhaps I could earn a small income as well, supporting myself for further writing and a quiet life of creativity and contemplation. 

it's a nice dream. 

I also believe that social media has not made this entirely possible in so many ways now. It's a beautiful thing to witness, how so many people are committing to a creative life and daring to share themselves in such an authentic fashion. My own step into social media has been tentative, posting my work on Facebook and a few other sites that are filled with mostly with my friends and like minded people. Not a daring leap, but it's a start to gain confidence and I've been happy with the interaction that's been gained. New friends have been made, connections, and that's no small thing for me. Every bit of communication is valued and adds more meaning to my writing. 

connections mater. 

of all the social media sites, it seems that YouTube holds the most promise, surprisingly to me as I've been shy to embrace this more visual approach to sharing. My channel started as a fun way to join a community of fitness enthusiast, filming my workouts as a means of accountability and encouragement, with this somehow leading me to talk a bit of life and the views I hold on certain matters. Mostly, I talk of yoga, my personal path of meditation and nonduality, my love of nature, and various topics that spontaneously occur to me. It's become its own art form, new, something undefined that allows me to explore ideas fearlessly in my own authentic fashion. It's a platform I've grown to love. 

of course it has its own challenges, every platform does. 

but this has been a creative leap for me, fun, a little fearful, and something I'm now committed to in a way that's been completely surprising to me. I am most certainly sharing a part of me I've long kept hidden in a background of social anxiety, a life long shyness of talking to more than even a few people. An early childhood speech impediment has always made presenting myself in public difficult, a discomfort lingering into my adult years. Yet I find myself at the edge of this fear, having a deep wish to share my thoughts and words, using this platform as a means to show my most authentic self to others. My fear isn't any less, it just doesn't seem to have the same grip any longer.

I'm a bit more free to share now.

and so I do,

in my most authentic fashion.

~

Peace, Eric