12 Comments
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Edward's avatar

Hi. Two things:

1. Holy shit. ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

2. This is so well written.

Love you big time. Xx

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Jen Baxter ✒️'s avatar

Still. Can't. Believe. You. Commented. ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

That is all.

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Beth Hayden's avatar

This is beautifully written, Jen - thank you so much for being willing to share your story. I'm honored to be a part of this post. Thank you, thank you, for everything. 💙

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Jen Baxter ✒️'s avatar

Such a pleasure Beth. I'm so happy you trusted me with your idea. You're brave and you're creating the space to help people!

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A Holy Mess | Dani Sumner's avatar

Aww, Jen, I hate the pain you’ve endured, but I love the human being you. Beautifully written, thank you for sharing. 💕

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Jen Baxter ✒️'s avatar

Thanks for saying that Dani. Pain is how we grow. It's been so cool getting to know you. Here's to a long friendship. Human to human. 🤣 💔

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Olivia Barry's avatar

My father left when I was 6 months old. My mother said he disappeared... so she said. Later, I learned that hadn't been the entire truth. Frankly, I never cared. He left and never looked for me. So why would I want to look for him? There's not one picture of us together, and that is okay, too.

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Jen Baxter ✒️'s avatar

Hey Olivia, thanks for sharing that. I like hearing that you're resolved and ok with your experience. Because I know we all have to make peace with the hand we're dealt. I've done some work to make peace with mine.

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Olivia Barry's avatar

Yes, we have to make peace in order to move on to something better. And I'm glad you find a way to make peace with your situation. I know how difficult it can be.

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Jen Baxter ✒️'s avatar

I always say to my writing clients when they want to tell a personal story that you wait until it's healed and you can make meaning out of it to share it. Until then, use the writing as therapy. But once you've made meaning out of it, you're out of the woods.

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Olivia Barry's avatar

I like that! 😊

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Juliane Bergmann's avatar

Jen, I love that you open the conversation on cyclebreakers and how our specific childhood experiences, resulting trauma, and healing/recovery influence our entire lives and beings, including our careers. I'm not a fan of the "bring your whole self to work" thing if it's forced, but I love having discussions about how certain patterns and dynamics impact our work. I'm sorry to hear we're in the same club when it comes to our dads, but I'm glad you're talking about it.

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