The word “unfixed” was planted in my brain by a Substack author we’ll meet in a bit. The word itself asks a thousand questions and is an anathema in our positive-only marketing-speak world. No one wants to think about what’s unfixed and possibly unfixable. Give me solutions, please … fast ones, easy ones, 1-2-3 ones. “Thin-thighs-in-30-days,” absolution-in-288-characters, or perfect-square-Igram-moment ones.
How many influencers are roaming the planet these days? What are they fixing other than a product-laden image of perfection beyond the means and methods of most of us lowly normals living below the shimmering line of “those who matter.” How much of our Gross Planetary Product cycles through those halls of smoke and mirrors?
What if we just accepted our unfixable selves and went on with our lives?
Recently, I Substack-met
a film-maker who writes Unfixed and set my mind circling the question of what would I do if I were truly unfixed and unfixable instead of just garden-variety imperfect? I have saved Kimberly for last not because she’s “the best” (she’s a terrific writer but I have no capacity to judge “best” in this Substack universe) … I just know … feel … the profound effect she’s had on my world view.From Kimberly’s About Page: “We all love fixer-upper stories, miracle cures and answers but many wake up each day without any of these. Our world needs more models for how to live a meaningful, unfixed life - a life liberated from fixed notions of how we must feel in order to live fully.”
Here’s the post that began my journey with Kimberly … and led to this movie trailer which I’m still trying to digest.
Kimberly says: “To launch my new offering, I’m sharing the trailer that encompasses the birth of this work and the twenty brave individuals who offered their souls to nurture it into being. I dedicate this work to them.”
If you’re not on Substack, you’re missing this level of writing, creativity, and insight into life. If you are on Substack, check out Kimberly or any of the other amazing writer/thinker/creators listed below.
As you may have realized by now, I am avid about Substack … both as an author and as a reader. There are so many fresh voices here … wisdom that doesn’t come in a package, pre-authorized, face-washed, and sanitized by a publisher who may or may not truly care about the message. Here I find wondrous, wandering souls who pour their ideas and experiences onto the page every week and invite us into conversation.
I hope you’ve enjoyed meeting this small sampling of incredible Substack writers. There’s another 17,000 of us on Substack … come join us as a writer … come enjoy what’s here as a reader. And may 2024 be a year of peace and democracy.
11/18/23
writing in Create Me Free about mental health and art.11/25/23
writing in The New Now about the power of manifestos.12/2/23
writes about Great Things with humor and illustrations.12/9/23 Goatfury Writesby Andrew Smith writing about anything that crosses his colorfully curious and unique mind.
12/16/23
writes Stunning Sentences. If you’re a writer, you may never look at (or write) sentences in the same way.12/23/23
writes Cosmographia, a map-based travel adventure like no other.12/30/23Unfixedby Kimberly Warner presented me with a life lesson I’m still chewing on.
Reading this lmade me think of my sister , I think she should read this
Learning to live with myself (and love myself) has been incredibly important-- tough at first, but easier over time. I think writing every day and publishing once it's "good enough" helps a great deal. I make little mistakes and then view them as positives, not negatives, because it allows my humanity to show through. In art, in particular, I think that's an awesome outlook.
Nice to "meet" Kimberly, too!