"Who Do You Think You Are?" Author Laura Lyn Donahue on Authenticity and the Writing Journey

Who we are isn’t something we figure out once, it’s something we keep discovering.

In this episode, Laura Lyn Donahue joins me to talk about identity, growth, and what it really means to evolve through life’s changing seasons. Drawing from her book, Who Do You Think You Are?, Laura Lyn shares how our sense of self shifts with experience, how to embrace uncertainty instead of fearing it, and why change can be one of our greatest teachers.

Takeaways from our conversation:

• Every moment offers an opportunity for growth.
• The role of an author requires embracing one's authentic self.
• Conversations with loved ones can reveal hidden truths.
• People-pleasing can hinder personal identity and self-worth.
• Recognizing disordered eating is crucial for self-acceptance.
• Self-care goes beyond superficial activities; it's about inner peace.
• Writing can be a therapeutic process, revealing deeper emotions.
• Family dynamics play a significant role in personal narratives.
• The journey of self-discovery is ongoing and evolving.
• It's important to advocate for oneself in personal and professional settings.

All the links and ways to connect with Laura Lyn: 

📧 Email: author@itslauralyn.com

 🔗 IG: @itslauralyn_author

🔗 FB: itslauralyn_author

📬  Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/lauralyndonahue

🔗 LinkedIn: Laura Lyn Donahue

📚  Purchase Laura Lyn's book (non-Amazon): https://books.by/w-brand-publishing#who-do-you-think-you-are

Transcript

Genevieve: 0:54

Every story has hidden chapters worth sharing, and editing is what helps these conversations shine. Right now, editing is the most time-consuming part of this podcast, and my goal is to raise enough support to bring in professional editing so I can focus more on the conversations and stories themselves. I'm so grateful to Dave Campbell, a fellow podcaster and my very first Buy Me a Coffee supporter, and to my mom, who supports Hidden Chapters Monthly on Buzzsprout. When you choose to support the next chapter, you're helping me work toward professional editing and making sure these stories continue to be shared with the best quality possible. If you'd like to join them, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for making Hidden Chapters possible.

LauraLyn : 1:50

who am I? Because every day, every moment, we have an opportunity for growth or not. And if we're growing, then we're changing. And if we're changing, then the answer to the question, who do you think you are, is going to evolve. It should evolve. That's part of growth. There's been a lot of, you know, just thinking about that and question again who do you think you are and what would the second version of that book

Genevieve: 2:29

look like that was Laura Lynn Donahue writer editor and poet whose debut memoir who do you think you are explores identity transformation and the power of connection hey this is Genevieve thanks so much for taking a moment out of your busy day to listen to a story of self-discovery I'm You're listening to Hidden Chapters, the place where we open up the stories you don't usually hear, the ones tucked behind the highlight reels and everyday smiles. In today's conversation, we're going to get to hear from Laura Lynn as she talks about the unexpected things after her book launched, dig into some of those hidden chapters between the book chapters, and what's potentially next for her. Maybe another book in the future? Laura Lynn is a Nashville native who grew up surrounded by Southern hospitality and now delights in creating space for others to share their gifts and stories. She's a mom to five, lives in Columbia, Tennessee with her husband, Don, and finds joy in sending snail mail, walking her dog, practicing yoga, and unwinding on her porch swing. Today, we're turning the page to discover the hidden chapters behind her book. So let's turn the page and begin. So Laura Lynn and I were introduced through her and Chris's book publisher, Julie Brand. Julie recommended Laura Lynn to my podcast because her book aligned perfectly with the heart and mission behind Hidden Chapters. I picked up Laura Lynn's book and enjoyed reading it over the summer in between some beach time. So thank you, Laura Lynn, for being my guest today and taking time out of your week to share your story with me.

LauraLyn : 4:09

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Genevieve: 4:11

Of course. While I read your book, as your words resonated or I had similar experiences, I took note of the page numbers and a few sentences as I read along. I found we had a lot of common experiences, which I thought would be fun to share and mention a in your book, you studied abroad to Europe in college. I did too. I went to London and spent a semester and enjoyed country hopping. So I loved reading that.

LauraLyn : 4:40

Boy, that was a long time ago, but wasn't it fun? Yes.

Genevieve: 4:43

I have to dust my passport off soon so I can go again and explore places, this time with more money. Right. Yes. Another one I really appreciated was that you shared with Vulnerability your struggle with people pleasing and performing. And that's actually some struggles I've had growing up as well. So I really liked that I was able to connect and share that we're not alone in those.

LauraLyn : 5:11

Yeah. I think probably there are more people just like us out there.

Genevieve: 5:15

Absolutely. Absolutely. And then a fun one. I found out that I share a birthday with your husband, Dawn. Yes. May 10th. Oh, wow. Yeah. So May 10th was the day that I also learned I

LauraLyn : 5:34

just

Genevieve: 5:46

wanted to start with asking you that first question about your book. Who do you think you are? So what was something you didn't expect would happen after it released?

LauraLyn : 5:58

One thing that I did not expect, or I don't even know if it's the right framework to say didn't expect it, but I didn't know who I was as an author. So it's, you know, I've written this book, Who Do You Think You Are? But yet I have not filled the role of author yet. And what does she say? What does she, how does she interact with people? How does she talk to people? does she talk about her book so I mean I guess somewhere in the back of my head I knew that was going to be required of me but I just didn't I didn't know until I went with my publishing company to the Tucson Festival of Books and there were 12 of us authors there from W Brand and so I had a support system but that was my first like foray into okay you're an author and here's your book and people might stop by and ask you questions. Right. So what I didn't expect or anticipate really was how I was going to translate myself into an authentic person who has written a book and who can communicate with someone who might be interested in reading it. Just, I mean, I had one person ask me, well, you know, boil your book down into two sentences and I was like oh dear I don't know and I gave two sentences don't ask me for them right now I know it's hard you know give me your elevator pitch I'm like wait I can't off the cuff so but I managed to do it and she bought a book so

Genevieve: 7:50

oh good yeah it's almost like really embracing that new role I'm author so you have to really kind of wrap your head around

LauraLyn : 7:59

I'm an author well and you're you are representing your authentic self you are not representing like a mother representing her children or a wife representing her husband or what or whatever it may be you are this is just like all encompassing me and I remember thinking I am really excited to get to know her and so I left um for that book festival with a lot of a lot of joy some nerves for sure but it was yeah it was an experience I didn't know what it would be like but it was a good one

Genevieve: 8:40

oh good that's good to hear yeah so is there been a story or a conversation that has come after the book was released where someone shared with you something that surprised you or took pause

LauraLyn : 8:55

yeah as a matter of fact I have I reference her in my book but my cousin she and I are just about four months apart and we grew up a couple miles down the road from each other and we did so many things together just so much so that we called ourselves twins you know we try to I don't know trick people into thinking we're twins but so I call her my twin cousin and someone in my life who has known me intimately as a friend, as a relative, just, you know, ingrained in our lives together. She called me after she had read the book and she said, I just never really thought about all of the legalism that you lived under. And of course, I go into detail about that in the book, but it started to kind of unravel for me just really what I was living under and it wasn't it wasn't that it was bad necessarily because there were certainly some beautiful things that came of being in a community of religious people and but the legalism because I am a pleaser because I am the do the right thing girl or was maybe I'm not so much now I don't know um i the rules i just played by the rules so to speak you know and you know one of those unfortunately was my religious group where we were the only ones going to heaven and i imposed that on my cousin mimi my twin cousin and it never really felt right and i couldn't really understand Why? You know, it was just a grappling of this doesn't make sense because there's love here. But she didn't really know where I was coming from as far as the doctrine that I had been ingrained in and how I used that doctrine to really navigate all the facets of my life and put them under the guise of this is is what you have to do this is how you are supposed to act and it took away some of my spontaneity Mimi said you were so crazy as a little girl and you know fun and outgoing and but I was a risk taker and I kind of forgot that so for her to bring that to light really gave me pause to think more about I just keep going back to the word legalism because that's just you know what it is when you're trapped in legalism sometimes it's just really hard to see it because it's become so ingrained in you and the people that you're around that it feels normal

Genevieve: 12:11

right

LauraLyn : 12:12

and

Genevieve: 12:13

she kind of pointed something out of what you were quite aware of yeah

LauraLyn : 12:16

and I really appreciated that a lot and wasn't expecting it but it sparked a really really healthy good conversation for us

Genevieve: 12:25

yeah that's good yeah and you always want those those Absolutely. Yes. It was. Yeah. Well,

LauraLyn : 13:02

that's a lifelong process. And I think I have always been trying to answer that question. How do I get out from under the pleasing? Because the pleasing is where I found respect from other people. I found affirmation from other people. And I was really associating those things with people pleasing. So if this, then this. So if I am pleasing to other people, then I will get this from them. I will get respect. I will get love. I will get some type of affirmation that wasn't really lacking in my life, but my DNA just gravitated to it. toward people pleasing. And that was, you know, that quote worked for me. And so even now, trying to come out from under it, I mean, of course, it's taken years of therapy and just some other realizations about myself to realize that it's not so important about to be pleasing others. Finding myself and self-care, if you will, is the most important thing because if we aren't being our authentic selves if we aren't being true to who we are then we're really missing out on something pretty good you know it gets pushed under the rug it gets suppressed and it takes a lot of mental energy a lot of work to walk into a situation and think okay so this is the person I have to be at this event or at this party or at this book club or whatever, you know, it is. I'm changing based on my, quote, audience. So coming out from under that, you know, I am 56. So it's only really been recently that I'm exercising that muscle even more than I was. I mean, there's the recognition, right? So you've got to see it, that it's happening, that you're doing But then the coming out from under it, I don't know that you can get it completely out from under it, but you can begin to recognize when you're doing it. And I'll just give you an example. Recently, I was offered a job promotion. I work for a yoga studio. So going from receptionist to manager, there were a list of things. I mean, a long list of things for, you know, would be my new job. responsibilities. And I looked at that list and I thought, well, I can do all of these. I can do every single one, but I don't want to. And so I advocated for myself. I said, I would love to take this position, but I don't want to take that drive time that I need, you know, that's offered here. That is not part of who I want to be continuing. I don't I don't want to be the person who says, yeah, I can do all of this and then start doing it and become just encumbered with too much responsibility because that's not the only job I have. Right. move that barrier out of the way at the beginning, rather than holding on to, oh, now I have to make that drive today. I have to do that drive every day or every Wednesday. And why didn't I speak up for myself? Because I knew when I read it, that's not something I want to do. That's not, you know, 15 minute drive, fine. 50 minute drive in traffic. No, thank you.

Genevieve: 17:25

Right. Yeah. And I growing up my dad was military so we moved a lot of different places and I basically had trained myself to be a chameleon to change my look the dress the attitude to fit in because I didn't want to be alone yeah and then I think over the years I've even gotten used to just going with what everybody says to make everybody happy at the expense of myself now I'm burning myself out because I am doing all the things I'm not telling anybody no yeah and even in my mid 40s Well, I address this in my book.

LauraLyn : 18:27

book and it has to do with an eating disorder and it's hard to talk about because it's more like no you didn't really have an eating disorder nobody saw that if people didn't notice that about you then it's not real so coming out now and saying well looking back Right. And if you're a people pleaser, even if that means pleasing yourself by abiding by rules, then behavior like eating restrictions can just become a guideline and become ingrained in you just like your other rules. And as I was writing my book, I was also in menopause. And so I was experiencing weight gain that I had not experienced before. I was experiencing self-doubt because of that. I was losing some of my not self-respect as much as maybe worth. I just felt like my self-worth was lowering. And this is based on a size. And having to come to terms with the fact that I'm meeting you and you're not basing our discussion on what my size is you know it's oh it's just it's a lot of work to come out from under and I just had to stop writing because I had to I just needed to go and deal with that with my psychiatrist I did a group nutrition program with other women I had a nutritionist I had to at least recognize what was going on with my body, with my mind, with how I was trying to control myself, understand where that came from, why I was dealing with it, and how do I kind of get out from under it? What are the tools for releasing myself? Not realizing that part of my acting out was just was binging and purging. I wasn't throwing up, but I was exercising. So I would exercise to eat. So I could do, you know, but if I ate too much, then back to the exercise. And that's just another form of binging and purging.

Genevieve: 21:43

Yeah. And I remember you said you had from your book, that was something that stemmed in your, was it teenage years?

LauraLyn : 21:50

Yes. Yes. It stemmed in my teenage years, maybe even tweens. Um, Um, but it wasn't something that I, I didn't set out to lose weight. I didn't set out to, uh, it just came upon me when one of my friends said, let's try out for track. Let's be on the track team so that we can stay in shape and eat. And I, I don't think I'd ever thought about it that way before. I was just a naturally active child. Like most of us are, um, And I mean, you know, playing outside with my brothers or playing kickball or school, you know, kind of activities. And so that's kind of where the framework began of, okay, so put the exercise in there. And then, okay, so maybe I'm supposed to be a certain size. So how do I gauge the food and the exercise? Well, I gauge that by weight. So, you know, weighing, trying to stay at a certain weight, being disappointed in myself if I wasn't that weight, really, it just became all encompassing just for years and years and never, ever in my life would I then would I have told you that I had an eating disorder. I

Genevieve: 23:21

would

LauraLyn : 23:22

know I would have said no, someone who has an eating disorder is in the hospital, or is emaciated. There are visible signs, but there are a lot of signs that aren't visible.

Genevieve: 23:34

Right.

LauraLyn : 23:35

That are unknown to the person who has disordered eating or to the person who's looking, you know, I mean, I was getting affirmation. Oh, you look so good. You're, you know, in shape, you know, what do you do? How do you stay your size? How do you, and I'm thinking, well, if you only knew all of these things that I'm doing, but people would just say, oh, well, That just must be how you are. And I would think it's just, it takes a lot of work. Right. And a lot of time and it steals a lot of joy.

Genevieve: 24:09

Right. When you mentioned it too, and you said you had to really pause, you were writing in the middle of writing your book. Right. And right when you said you were starting to talk about that, you said you had to pause and take a break. What did that struggle look like? during that time? Because that's

LauraLyn : 24:33

a big project to put a pause on, right? and take a pause and say okay I don't think I can continue to write my book authentically without addressing this issue because someone's going to need the advice or someone's going to need to be able to relate to somebody else who has gone through something similar but what did you do about it and so yeah I There were other parts of my book that I could continue to write. But that one, it just really, really struck me. And I thought the healthy thing to do was to deal with it.

Genevieve: 25:41

And I found that encouraging, too, that you mentioned that you had to stop and pause because what it is also encouraging is you're important. You need to take care of yourself first before you can take care of anybody else. And that's even something more I'm learning more and more as I'm getting older I go I've taken care of a lot of people but if I'm not taken care of it's to my own detriment so I think that's a great message to send is sometimes you do need to take a pause and really take time for yourself it's just truly important

LauraLyn : 26:12

it is truly important and it's not just a bath or getting your nails done or self care is much deeper than that it might even just be sitting still and being quiet and giving yourself space to do that.

Genevieve: 26:30

Absolutely. I so agree with that. In talking a little bit about your writing as well, in this journey and experience, did you ever write something, then delete it out of fear or protection or maybe that imperfect, that perfectionism?

LauraLyn : 26:47

Oh, no, never, never. Everything was perfect from the get go. Exactly. Oh, boy. Yeah. You know, sometimes uh you'll hear if you're really if you've got a lot of anger regarding a situation that's happened somebody might say well write it down you know write about it and so in a sense as i was writing i was writing down the version that was my angriest self first and then i would go okay let's go back and look at that i'm like man you were really angry So yeah, so it would sometimes take a few drafts to get back to really the meat of what I wanted to say. Yeah. Let's deal with the emotional part of it. That's very valid. That's important. But what, how is that going to translate? Let's translate to not how mad you were about it, but what you did about it and what worked for you or didn't work for you in that circumstance and is what you've written meant to hurt someone else do you want it there to you know point a finger at someone and that wasn't the goal of my writing but it was part of my writing it's part of the process so yeah so yeah there was there were a lot of deletions

Genevieve: 28:21

well I'm finding that very neat not well neat is the word I know there's probably another word for that but I'm finding Finding it really interesting, a lot of the author friends that I'm getting the chance to speak to, everybody talks about it like that. There's this therapeutic journey you go through, the things that you're writing, especially when you're writing your life. There's things that rehash and open up old wounds. And imagine you have to work through those before you put them on paper. And like you said, I'm a journaler myself. So there's times I'm writing in anger. And then I go back and I read it and I go, I needed that. But this is definitely not something I want to share.

LauraLyn : 28:57

Right. Right. Right. Nor should you. Right. That's why they're diaries. That's why diaries used to have locks on them.

Genevieve: 29:05

That's right. I had a few of those. I'd forget my key sometimes or lose my key. But yeah. Yeah. That's so funny and true. So now that the book is finished and it's written, what feels maybe unfinished?

LauraLyn : 29:25

Oh, let's see. Unfinished. Well, part of what's unfinished is answering the question, who do you think you are? And in my opinion, you were answering that question on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, in the summer and the spring. We are, okay, well, who am I? Because every day, every moment, We have an opportunity for growth or not. And if we're growing, then we're changing. And if we're changing, then the answer to the question, who do you think you are, is going to evolve. It should evolve. That's part of growth. So there's been a lot of just thinking about that question again. Who do you think you are? and what would the second version of that book look like? I mean, it, you know, it wouldn't go back to the beginning, but it, so the unfinished is sort of, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. You know, it just, what you don't know the rest of the story, so that remains unfinished. And then also, you know, coming into some just the importance of putting my work out there and letting people know about it marketing yourself I mean that's not a real easy thing for me to do or want to do but how else do you get other people to know that your story is there you've got to tell them so that continues to be unfinished

Genevieve: 31:24

I imagine too you and I are very similar in that too where you ask that question who do you think you are that kind of stirs up more questions now that you're marketing yourself and you're having to get your book out there that sometimes that I'm sure that can rattle you a little going who do you think you are right you can the tone of the question is completely different I imagine so I imagine so it's

LauraLyn : 31:48

that not the gaslighting but what's the popular phrase that you lose your confidence and imposter the imposter syndrome Yes. Yes, yes, yes. That raises its ugly head quite often. Who do you think you are? Right. Changes the whole tone, starts to, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Genevieve: 32:11

That's so true. Yeah. Even doing what I'm doing sometimes, I go, who do you think you are? That's hard. That's hard, you know. Like you right now too, you know, just putting myself out there and, you know, I don't particularly want to be in the spotlight. Yeah.

LauraLyn : 32:57

Yeah. with the book, handing it off to an editor, it was a little bit, there was some, a little nerve wracking. But what I found is, is this process was so valuable. And maybe it also depends on the editor that you have. But I felt like my editor who didn't know me, we'd never met each other. She understood the voice of my book. And she she was able to offer suggestions to the opportunity to provide clarity you know maybe a paragraph that didn't didn't fully have closure to it or didn't fully explain really what you were trying to get across and sometimes you don't know that until someone else reads it because it it makes sense to you but as the writer you've got to tell the whole story so you've got to give all of the details down to the you know sound in the air and the color of the rug or or whatever that is so an editor I almost looked forward to the edits a little bit of trepidation but then I would see the benefit of it and think oh I've been given another chance yeah so this doesn't go out incomplete now that's not to say the book doesn't need some more work to it but it It's much better than it would have been without an editor. And that part, you don't skip. You don't skip it. And I think it needs to be a neutral party and objective person. You might get a little bit of that from a relative or a friend, but you're not going to get the full scope. So that was, I don't even think it was humbling. I think it was just, just felt right to me. It just felt like the right thing. So it was good. It was a good experience. Yeah. Ask me about it again, you know, after the next book comes out, whatever that is, and maybe I'll have a different story. But I

Genevieve: 35:42

think that was going to be my next question that I wanted to ask you is now that you have launched the book and the books out there, what would be next for you? What are you feeling right now in this after launch book?

LauraLyn : 35:55

Yeah, yeah. So prior to releasing the book, the goal was to release a book in my lifetime, right? So you get the book out there. It's published. It feels good. It feels like an accomplishment. And yes, now that the baby has been birthed, if you will, what's next? Do you write another book? Well, you did write a book. That's great. Maybe you could do another one. So I am always asking myself this question. What would your next next book be if you were to write one I think about what will I write next it feels like it's always a burning question and I evaluate so I'll hear someone on a podcast talk and I think okay well could I write about that or I have loads of poetry that I've written all of my life maybe it's a book of poetry I don't know that that's very marketable but I have it it's valuable to me And I guess for me, putting something out there in print is as much, if not the only reason for posterity's sake. It is there for my family to look back on, for my children. And by the way, four of my adult children have read my book.

Genevieve: 37:19

Oh, that's a good question I can ask you about is their reaction. Yeah. We'll do that one. Yeah.

LauraLyn : 37:24

Yeah. Okay. So I guess the answer to the question, what's next or what's the next book is, I don't know yet. But I do feel, I feel myself thinking about it a lot and I don't know exactly what that means or what it looks like, but it's, we shall see. I

Genevieve: 37:49

want to talk about your children's reactions to the book. Now, did they read it before? Did they get a manuscript before or did they get to read it? So

LauraLyn : 38:00

the kids were given, when I was writing, I gave them a manuscript, but my children did not read it. And that's fine. It was, it was up to them. I wanted them to know what was in the book, how I talked about them in the book. And if they were, if anything was upsetting or uncomfortable for them, I wanted to know that. But I don't think that, you know, I mean, they're all in their twenties. Um, and I don't think they, well, understandably you don't really know how something feels until you see it, excuse me, until you see it in print and it takes on a whole different look, um, or field to it. And I know that, um, a couple of the kids were like, I just want to read the finished version. I just want to read the real one. And that was, I totally understood that. Um, And that was fine. And, you know, there are stories that I tell in the book that I did take away names, whereas maybe I originally had names in there. But then just through the process thought, you know, this isn't about that particular child. This is about how I was affected in these circumstances. It's not about, I mean, okay, so it is about maybe something that they did or didn't do. Right. I don't know, it's just been really interesting. I told a lot.

Genevieve: 40:01

Did that add a little bit to the emotion as you were coming off of this launch? Did it add any extra maybe stress or anxiousness getting to hear from the kids?

LauraLyn : 40:16

So I was anxious to hear from them after I had written. Yes, I was anxious.

Genevieve: 40:23

Yes.

LauraLyn : 40:23

Because yes, I didn't want anyone's feelings to be hurt because I didn't say enough about them or because I said too much or, you know, there's all the scenarios that you can run over in your head of what is your family going to think because they are an integral part of your life. Yeah. Your experiences and everyone's actions around you affect how you are going to deal with with that. Right. I like to say, and my mom, you know, told me this years ago before it was a phrase. So it's not about you. It's about them. But so I was sort of flipping the coin in this respect of writing the book and saying, this book is about me. It is not about them. Yeah. If you will, if you'll take that path with me is it might be the stories that they were in but the storyline because of the theme of the book is so who were you Laura Lynn in that story and how did that story or that circumstance affect how you internalized how you dealt with struggle how you dealt with joy how you dealt with you know four kids age four and a half and under what was it like to be the mom that was pulling two grocery carts pushing one and pulling the other not what were the kids doing what was the mom feeling right there then the person Laura Lynn even under the label of mom and so the kids were able to and of course my husband as well and to see my side of the story because a lot of times our sides don't get told just because of the nature of things. That's just, you know, we don't always get to tell our story. People don't always want to hear our side of the story. But there's always at least two sides, right? Absolutely. And you're going to learn and remember differently than the person that you share your DNA with. The processing is going to be different. So it was, there was a couple of times where the kids commented on, I just really, hadn't thought about you as a person that's

Genevieve: 43:00

so

LauraLyn : 43:00

hard

Genevieve: 43:00

when you're a mom you go you so one way

LauraLyn : 43:04

yeah yeah but but why would i mean i was mom and they were little and they were growing and i was caring for them and so they saw me as mom because i was mom they didn't see me as someone who had struggled with situations now as they got older i was more transparent with them of course Right. Right. Yeah.

Genevieve: 43:39

So, Laura Lynn, before we close, I'd love to share a little hidden chapter spotlight moment with my listeners. A brief excerpt or quote from your book that really captures something meaningful about your journey or your story. Would you be comfortable reading a short passage for us? Yeah, absolutely. I'd be glad. I earmarked a lot of different pages in your book because, of course, I loved and resonated with a lot of it. But I'd love to hear a little excerpt from pages 210 and 211 that really I felt answered your book title and really encompassed what you were saying there.

LauraLyn : 44:15

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. As crazy as it may sound to give this feeling a voice, I would venture to say that I'm not the only one who has felt similarly. What about you? Did you have those days that you wanted Calgon to take you further away than the bathtub? Maybe you were better at self-care than I was, but even Even with that, being the caretaker requires a tremendous amount of giving, self-denial, and life interruption. It's easy to lose sight of who we are. Forgetting who we are is common. Retracing our steps though and rediscovering ourselves is critical. Where did I lose myself? How can I find myself so that I can answer the question, who do you think you are? I

Genevieve: 45:05

love that. What did that feel like to write that chapter and end that there? You

LauraLyn : 45:17

know, that was a lot, a lot to write. And I think to even come to the end of that chapter and thinking about, you know, retracing my steps and rediscovering me was, is what this book was in its whole essence is seeing it mostly like a research project in the overarching theme. I'm researching myself and the research turns up what's underneath. It's like digging for treasure or the meat, the morsels. So it took a lot, it took a lot to write, a lot of energy. And I think giving that a voice, just writing that down and putting that out there in print that we are not what we do. We are more. It's maybe easy to forget who we are or to lose track or to ignore ourselves, but we need to be reminded that we need to come back around and find ourselves again because that's very important. It's easy to get lost and you don't want to be lost. Come back around.

Genevieve: 47:07

I'm excited you're going to be at the Military Influencer Conference next month. I'll get to see you in person, give you a hug in person, and have you sign my book.

LauraLyn : 47:16

Sounds perfect to me. Thank

Genevieve: 47:19

you again. Yes,

LauraLyn : 47:20

thank you. Thanks for having me.

Genevieve: 47:23

Laura Lynn's book, Who Do You Think You Are?, matters because it's not just a story, but a chance to dig a little deeper and invite all of us into a journey of self-discovery and understanding of identity beyond what we do. If you'd like to read more of Laura Lynn's book, you can grab it wherever books are sold, and I'll even link the Amazon link in the show notes. If you'd like to connect with Laura Lynn, I'll also put those in the link. You can follow her on Instagram, Substack, and you can even find her website. And if you're ready to keep the conversation going and connect with this community we're building, come find me on Substack at Hidden Chapters. All the conversation, extended insights, and other things are waiting there. Thank you for listening to Hidden Chapters. Until next time, keep finding the stories behind the smiles.