The day I broke up with religion.

There I was in an auditorium I sat in a million times. The place where I once believed god was speaking to me through men in polyester suits. Only this day, I was distracted by something more insidious than bad fashion. My consciousness.

Inconveniently, I had awaken to the reality that my spiritual home was not the picture perfect, harmless ball of beige it pretended to be. Actually, it had teeth. And an agenda.

Today, the words coming through the speakers felt like noxious gas…not truth and not love. I had come here to learn and yet what I found myself in was a rally. We were not learning. We were being told what to think.

The phrase “We do not feel shame about (x)” kept being threaded through different discussions. And I thought to myself, but what if people do feel shame? What if I do feel shame? How does this actually address what people are going through?

The message was coded but clear to me “This isn’t a discussion. You will feel what you’re told and if you feel something different you’re not one of us”.

I agreed.

And I left.

I realized I would never be safe in a spiritual community that wanted me to hand over my mind for belonging. No man in a polyester suit tells baby how to think.

This is an excerpt from my next book. stay tuned for more!

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The Art of Authoring Your Own Story

Writing is a ritual of release for me. I wrote my first book Go Love Yourself because I needed to. My pain needed a place to go. And if I could help someone not go through what I went through, my experience could mean something other than just loss.

I want to teach you how to use your stories as creative fuel + spiritual hygiene.

Language is the technology that runs the operating system of your mind. The stories you tell yourself about you are the most important and most precious. Using writing I have been able to turn my pain into art, lessons, medicine and a career. Writing amplifies you in every way.

Come make stories with me in my Private Writing Club. This is my community where we meet each week for creative writing workshops + practice using writing as an intellectual + emotional play space. Hope to see you there.

-🤘🏽 Britnei Nicole