10 years of Em

Ten years ago I was a 10-year-old swedish kid with new bangs (didn't we all want to be hannah montana at some point?) that looked awful because my hair wanted to be curly.

So beanies were my thing. And stripes were also my thing. Glasses were not my thing because they were annoying and so ugly, ugh.

But most importantly, I had just watched Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time; our parents hadn't bough the newest Harry Potter movie yet so I cheated and only read The Half-Blood Prince because I was lazy and impatient and not that much into Harry Potter anyway to read all the books (lol don't kill me); and I also wanted to be an elf because Legolas, duh.

Stories were important.

I wrote secret songs that I never told anyone about (I still do that!!) and made up stories that my classmates could read from the bookshelf in our classroom.

Back then, my storyworld was the forest behind the school. It was a cemetery for all the little dead animals I'd stumble upon and hold funerals for, but also a place of magic spells, tree-climbing, very bad archery, tragic pinecone wars, daydreams and snow castles.

I spent way too much time thinking about what other people thought about me, and often I just wanted to escape. I was a very happy, active, funny, silly child, but there was also a lot of sadness and hurt.

I was afraid of growing up, but I wanted to be older so that I could stand up for myself, help other terribly shy kids and be taken seriously for once. I wanted to say that I was going to be a storyteller without someone smiling at me in that disbelieving, condescending way.

Well... 😂 Not much has changed... But I'm on my way to becoming that woman my kid self wanted me to be. I'm on my way to becoming the person my kid self needed me to be. 

I'll embrace the journey. Life's an adventure, and I am happy to be sharing it with you.

Learning, you see, is all about being vulnerable. 

So yup. I'm a storyteller. 'Cause I want to be. Guess who's smiling now?

Aw yeah.