Wendy VonSosen’s “Quite Honestly”
Telling your own truth takes an immense amount of courage. No matter how painful or uncomfortable, if confronted, it allows us to have healthier relationships with others around us and more importantly — ourselves.
When Wendy VonSosen of the San Francisco Bay area let us in on the new series she was venturing into, we knew it would rank among “the good stuff” so many of us wait to hear as we go about our days. We knew that when she brought the world Quite Honestly, she would take great care of her friends’ stories and their hearts. Never one to let those she cares for stand on their own, she turned the tables and took a plunge into honesty herself, telling us her very own version of Quite Honestly. If you have yet to read her entry, we encourage you to do so as soon as it is possible. Written from the best of hearts and the very inner core of a mother, it is something we’ve reread over and over again, building from her strength and most of all — her honesty.
Read on for the beautiful creations that were born from Quite Honestly and why and how it made it’s way to us:
“With the onslaught of social media coming at us from all directions, it’s easy to be deceived into believing that life is perfect for everyone else. With a feed full of beautiful photographs of happy families, perfect outfits and glamorous vacations, it’s hard to remember that life isn’t perfect for anyone. When life presents us with challenges and struggles, it’s easy to feel isolated, alone, and inadequate. Hiding these trials from the world is our natural instinct. But instead of hiding the imperfections of life, what would happen if we shared them instead? Would we find people struggling with similar challenges? Would we be able to pass along wisdom we’ve gained? Would we be more likely to celebrate each other’s wins when we know what challenges were overcome to get there? Would we be kinder with ourselves? And more understanding of others?
Through the Quite Honestly Project, I’m hoping to combat the “perfection deception” of social media and support each other through all of life’s experiences by sharing the honesty of the human experience.”
“I was born with a rare heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. My mom and dad found out about it the day after I was born and were given two options; a series of fairly new surgeries throughout my first three years of life, or to take me home and let me die peacefully. Lucky for me, they chose the surgeries. After 3 open heart surgeries, I am left with a long scar running down the middle of my chest… I feel blessed that I am as healthy as I am, because many people go through situations that are much more difficult. We are all the same in God’s eyes and it’s important to be thankful for all that we do have, rather than what we lack.”
“Challenges can hit us from all directions and levels in life. One challenge I have struggled with over the years is self-confidence. My childhood was filled with the highest of highs and lowest of lows. There were many tumultuous and chaotic experiences I went through that were life altering for me and my family. Through these trials, I struggled with self-image and I worried about being accepted by the people I looked up to. I never wanted to disappoint anyone. I was worried about not being good enough at something and at times I felt like I couldn’t take steps forward to achieve what I wanted to achieve. Like many, there have been moments where I have felt totally alone and wondered to myself how I was to overcome these feelings and emotions.”
“One of the things I fell in love with when I started blogging 8 years ago was the sense of community I found online. This community brought me some of my closest friends. You see, when I began blogging, I had been suffering from severe depression for many years. I got married when I was 21. I thought my life would turn out just the way I had always imagined it if I just stuck to the plan, stayed on the right path, and did everything right. What I didn’t realize at such a young age is that life doesn’t always go as planned. You can stay on the path, but when other people stray from the path, their decisions can change your life.
This happened to me.”
“I fell unconscious on top of my 15 year-old who then fell on top of an older gentleman. I then began to have a gran mal seizure right there in Costco, in front of the hot dog pick up line…I have never felt the need to hide what happened to me physically from other people but I do feel that people just can’t understand the complicated emotional side to this. I feel isolated everyday. I feel powerless. I feel inadequate. I feel invisible. The meds make me feel like a stranger. Someone I don’t recognize, don’t understand. Just not me. I think those raw emotions scare people. They are strong emotions. I have found myself pulling in, not wanting to be social because sometimes its hard to pretend everything is alright.”
“I have Alopecia, a super fun (not) condition where my hair falls out on my entire body. I was diagnosed with it at age 5 and 35 years later it’s just a part of my being. There are many challenges that come with this but the most challenging is the insecurity that comes with not “looking normal”. In a society like ours everyone wants to be “perfect” and being a young girl, a teenager, a young adult being bald does not fit that mold. I was teased in grade school for having bald spots, I was stared at in stores for being bald and I have been approached by many wonderful people who feel the need to pray for me. Being bald is not ideal. As a woman many times I didn’t feel beautiful, sexy, worthy, and so much more. The challenge was trying to hide it from the world while desperately trying to love myself at the same time.”
If you are local to Northern California and are interested in working with Wendy on a Quite Honestly story of your own, contact Wendy here. As she so brilliantly illustrates through her imagery and the worlds of her her brave cohorts, she doesn’t want perfect, she wants honest.
Also, if you have a project of your own that you’d like to share with our Everything Bloom readers, please contact us with your submission here. We’d love to share what you’ve been working on this year!
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