In her first solo memoir, New York Times bestselling author
Joanna Gaines invites us on an authentic and deeply vulnerable
journey into her story--and helps shine a light on the beauty of
our own--guiding us to release the weights that hold us back so
we may live and share our story in truth.
We've all dropped anchor in places that suited us for a time: a
city, a perspective, a lie we mistook as truth. This book is an
invitation to a kind of life where you know how to hold what you
believe--about yourself and the quiet worlds behind the people
you pass--with gracious and open hands. To see your story as
greater than any past or future thing, but for all the beauty and
joy and hope it holds today. It's an invitation to take stock of
the chapters you've lived--the good and the bad, the beautiful
and the ugly--glean what's gold, and carry only that forward. Let
it slow your feet and steady your life-in-motion so you can see
where you stand today from a new point of view. No longer through
weary or uncertain eyes, but a lens brimming with hope.
The only way to break free was to rewrite my story. Because
something would happen every time my pen stopped: it was like my
soul was coming back to my body. Like the deepest parts of me
that got knocked around and drowned out by all the crap I let the
world convince me about who I was came back to the surface. And
what was left was only what was real and true. I was, finally,
standing in the fullness of my story. I felt hopeful. I felt
full. Our story may crack us open, but it also pieces us back
together.
We all have a story to tell. This happens to be mine--every
chapter a window into who I am, the journey I'm on, and the
season I'm in right now. Because this is my story, maybe you
won't always relate, or maybe it will feel like you're looking in
a mirror. Whatever we have in common and whatever differences lie
between us, I only hope my story can help shine a light on the
beauty of yours. That my own soul work will stir something of
your own. And that by the time you get to the end of my story,
you're also holding the beautiful beginnings of your own.
A story only you can tell. And I hope that you will.
- Joanna Gaines
In her first solo memoir, New York Times bestselling author
Joanna Gaines invites us on an authentic and deeply vulnerable
journey into her story--and helps shine a light on the beauty of
our own--guiding us to release the weights that hold us back so
we may live and share our story in truth.
We've all dropped anchor in places that suited us for a time: a
city, a perspective, a lie we mistook as truth. This book is an
invitation to a kind of life where you know how to hold what you
believe--about yourself and the quiet worlds behind the people
you pass--with gracious and open hands. To see your story as
greater than any past or future thing, but for all the beauty and
joy and hope it holds today. It's an invitation to take stock of
the chapters you've lived--the good and the bad, the beautiful
and the ugly--glean what's gold, and carry only that forward. Let
it slow your feet and steady your life-in-motion so you can see
where you stand today from a new point of view. No longer through
weary or uncertain eyes, but a lens brimming with hope.
The only way to break free was to rewrite my story. Because
something would happen every time my pen stopped: it was like my
soul was coming back to my body. Like the deepest parts of me
that got knocked around and drowned out by all the crap I let the
world convince me about who I was came back to the surface. And
what was left was only what was real and true. I was, finally,
standing in the fullness of my story. I felt hopeful. I felt
full. Our story may crack us open, but it also pieces us back
together.
We all have a story to tell. This happens to be mine--every
chapter a window into who I am, the journey I'm on, and the
season I'm in right now. Because this is my story, maybe you
won't always relate, or maybe it will feel like you're looking in
a mirror. Whatever we have in common and whatever differences lie
between us, I only hope my story can help shine a light on the
beauty of yours. That my own soul work will stir something of
your own. And that by the time you get to the end of my story,
you're also holding the beautiful beginnings of your own.
A story only you can tell. And I hope that you will.
- Joanna Gaines