The Hyphen: Vulnerability & “I Don’t Know”

Hi friends—

How are you doing?

I don’t know whether it’s the pandemic, or since turning 31, but I am feeling a shift in how I embrace and show my own vulnerability. I feel naturally more open, and it feels like a stark contrast to how I was in my twenties. Back then, I definitely had a barrier up; I didn’t ever want to show I was struggling to anyone other than my close friends, which is fine except it was pretty exhausting. I have signed up to a life coach (someone I’ve known for a couple of years and really trust) and I can’t wait to tell you more about it as I go along! Vulnerability came up a lot in our first session. Brené Brown is right: you are stepping into your truest power when you are ready to display your vulnerable side to the world.

It’s like one big exhale. I don’t pretend to be a certain way anymore — I’m happy to say “I don’t know”. I don’t feel like I have to chisel my opinions into stone anymore. I am fluid. I change my mind a lot. I am not afraid to ask questions, not afraid to get it wrong sometimes. If this is what growing older already feels like then it makes me look forward to future decades of vulnerability and acceptance.

Speaking of vulnerability, my debut novel OLIVE comes out in TWO WEEKS. I am apprehensive, nervous, ahhh — that bubbling feeling of nerves deep in my stomach. I really want OLIVE to get out there and reach people. I really believe in the story, characters, nuance and overall message but it’s been really hard to remain positive about launching it during the last few months. Celebrating any sort of life milestone during a pandemic *is* weird. I’ve been having nightmares of career tumbleweeds and Zoom promo events where I turn up accidentally naked.

I do hope OLIVE finds you. Wherever you are.

My hope is that you might connect with her like I did.

Hope you enjoy today’s newsletter. (If there’s anything you’d like me to share in next week’s newsletter, you can email me at hello@emmagannon.co.uk)

Love,
Emma xo

What’s New on Ctrl Alt Delete Podcast?

Things I consumed this week…

• Jia Tolentino on practicing the discipline of hope

• Why don’t women self-promote as much as men?

• “Chick lit is patently sexist” — Angela Makholwa

• For Black women in media, a “dream job” in a myth

• How quarantine has reshaped my approach to productivity

• “No Worries If Not!”: the apologetic phrase women can’t stop using

• This brilliant interview in Vulture with Thandi Newton

• Margaret Atwood on The New Science of Sex and Gender

• The overdue rise of the unlikeable female protagonist

• Keep your friends close, and keep holding them closer

• It’s 2022. What does life look like?

• Stop calling Michaela Coel “the new Phoebe Waller-Bridge”

• A secret author on the Decline of the English novel

• (ps I wrote about loving heated eyemasks for NY Mag)

In Case You Missed It ☝️
— You are invited to my online book launch for OLIVE!