‘Courage to tell your story’

‘Encouraging the community to share their stories is an ancient way of learning and inclusion. This way of storytelling is not mythical as it has proven over time that wisdom is gained through the art of listening, watching, and feeling anyway one can.

This is referred to as inclusion, a place where no one is left behind and where no one’s life experience is less important than the other.

This sacred space of Rosa Carrafa Publishing is a personal dream that has been nurtured carefully over many years. To bring this all to life is also an ode to all those who have lived before me and have shaped my very being in who I am today.  

It is also an extension of who I was and have now become, because of my experiences of loss, death, and the process of grief.

While I was inspired because of loss in death, it was the grieving process of not being able to talk about how I feel that became the core of this very aspect of storytelling.

In time, others began to talk to me about their losses and I was invited to share my life stories too.

With my adoration of spirituality and the unknown wisdom I was gaining along the way, I naturally fell into a community-based business of creative expression. As a mentor, creating a safe place where others can talk and be heard is precious.

Over this year, it became evident that there are so many stories that need to be heard. I have been investing in encouraging others to write and share their life experiences as everyone has a story, it is natural we all do.

The next motion is coming to the realization that we are not meant to be understood in this world of what society expects of us. There are no rules in how the aspects of life appear in our lives, and this is where connecting with others by reading, listening, and feeling their stories makes a difference.

With each story you give time to, you are also in turn northing your connection with your personal self.

The ‘about’ in this piece of writing in introducing you to my inspiration of this part of my life would not exist without the humble mention of my greatest teachers in this part of who I am today.

In 1984, I was still only 14 years old, my life was tipped over the edge of the fresh green mountain to what felt like my fall was met with a landscape of thorns.

My life was altered dramatically and the unimaginable reality that shaped my upcoming years, when six members of my immediate family were tragically killed in a road accident; among them were, both parents, toddler brother, uncle and both paternal grandparents. Here began my next chapter of life which I was not prepared for that has shaped me to become the woman I am.

How did I get through this period of my life? I just did. It was not comfortable at all. I learnt throughout every word I spoke, action I took and thought I nurtured, were a celebration of my living. I was desperately holding on to the memories and stories that I was told by my family that now live no longer in the physical. I wanted to be heard, loved, to be felt safe and most of all live; I wanted to live through life taking with me all those memories of my family. I travelled overseas, I visited my parent’s, uncle, and grandparents’ birthplace in Italy. I communicate with those who have been a part of their lives often. Their very existence was kept alive and to make it even more special, I met people who remembered them, and they too openly shared their memories of them. I realised quickly that people want to speak the names of those who have outlived us, they wanted to share stories of their good times and those times that they regretted.

The expression of communication via storytelling has been the most effective motion to date. We need to tell stories of our joyful moments and our grievances. Both are fundamental to our human existence; regardless if they are great or not in our own minds. I created this platform as a celebration of my life originally, so my children and the generations to follow will have a memory platform of knowing via literature, art and the spoken word in who I was and why I do what I do and did. Nothing ever will make sense to another they way I am, as I have learnt that is because, it is my life and not theirs. This is the reality of life; there is no balance when it comes to personal experiences, because they exist through your living and your emotions. 

Through death, I learnt that there was only one other thing that mattered to me, and that was living through the process of grief. Grief has no time and this endless ticking clock is the reality in where you are now; you are here reading this short story of how to condense the formal ‘about’ space in this part of my business website to make sense of what Rosa Carrafa Publishing is offering you.

In short, it is a place where you are able to live through my unfortunate life experience from the Aspects of Life that has now become my life niche’. This is also a place where you, will have opportunities to write your stories and honour those who have made a difference in your life throughout all the heartaches you have lived through. This is also the place where you can gift yourself literature for the younger you, the teen in you, the confused you, the joyful you, the faithful you, the lonely you and the grieving you. You will be able to connect with those who submit stories through the ‘author’ tab as each person who contributes to be a part of my stories, will have the option to be featured. You do not need to be a professional writer, for you already have all that is more than enough to have your life stories received into the world; you are the storyteller, for it is your story that you are sharing.

Life is not a forever gift; it is rather a moment that we are gifted to live and make a difference in. Through our living and co existing with each other here in the physical, we experience many aspects of life. From conception, gestation, birth, joy, loss, death, and the process of grief. I mentioned ‘joy’ in the middle of the live aspects as we know it; Why? Because from my personal life experience and ‘joy’ is the very emotion that we feel less guilty to expose to the world and it is the most acceptable aspect of life that is welcomed.

I mention the process of grief in conclusion; Why? Because from my personal life experience, this is the most excruciating and ironic part of our existence of living. Grief is a word for many, but for most, it is the absolute reason why we live. This process of grief is not welcomed, not celebrated enough in our communities because it is rarely regarded, as necessary. Discussing openly the process of grief can be confronting to those who may not have experienced the intensity of it. On the opposite side, open discussion of the process of grief is refreshing and also the human reaction to how much love you feel for not only the persons you have lost through death, but also the love you have for who you are.

Creative expression saved my life and if I can save another’s life, then all was and is worth it.’