For a few years, I’ve struggled with how to express myself online; that’s only gotten harder since my first book was published in January of 2022. Because that book detailed much of my trauma, I felt as though I had to focus on the survivor aspects of my life online in order to get sales. After all, if people knew I actually spent my days remodeling, working on sustainable gardens, and advocating for historic preservation and honeybee protection, wouldn’t they get mental whiplash if they knew most of my career was spent immersed in trauma, sometimes not even my own?
Well, as it turns out, I’ve found that trying to squash my personality into one box is exactly what I don’t want to spend my life doing.
In December of 2022, I launched my Thriving Warrior Life project—that’s where I talk about the things I’ve survived and how I’ve learned to cope with them, even how I’m finding ways to thrive despite the trauma and triggers I still carry. And as proud as I am of myself for making a distinction between parts of my professional persona and the rest of my self, I want to take it a step further.
If you’ve been following me (or known me) very long, you probably aren’t surprised that I take classes online through Stanford University and Johns Hopkins, studying global efforts to ensure women’s rights and and gun violence prevention, respectively. But what you may not know is just how passionate I am about both of these topics, among others, like rainforest conservation.
That’s where this blog comes in.
Aptly named Olivia Speaks Up, in this space, you can expect to find stories of times I’ve used my voice to improve this world we all call home. As the header quote on my website says, “We absolutely have to make this world better for our children—environmentally in every sense of the word. We must recycle our plastics and discard our emotional trash so our children can have the best future possible.” On Thriving Warrior: Life After Trauma, you can follow my journey to break cycles of generational trauma—that emotional trash I refer to. However, here, on Olivia Speaks Up, you’ll be able to follow my quest for all the rest of it as I strive to make the world a better place, starting with my piece of it in the Louisville, Kentucky area.
Because I am so much more than a survivor, and I want to share those other pieces of myself with you.