If you have a traumatic coming-of-age story, don’t keep it inside you; it won’t do anyone any good there, least of all you. Tell it. No more excuses.
But where to begin? A good first step is reading stories of others who went through some version of what you did. No two stories are alike. Each one is worth telling. Each is worth hearing.
To quote psychoanalyst Theodor Reik (or maybe Mark Twain, who is often credited with the gem), “It has been said that history repeats itself. This is perhaps not quite correct; it merely rhymes.”
Time to begin your story, the next rhyme in the series.
Ignore nay-saying family and “friends” who scoff, as one of my relatives did, “Who’d be interested?” I would. You may be surprised how many others would, as well.
Here are a couple handfuls of great reads to get you started, beginning with most recent ones:
Bloodlines: A Memoir of Harm and Healing by Tracey Yokas
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
Brave: A Personal Story of Healing Childhood Trauma by Janyne McConnaughey
American Daughter: A Memoir by Stephanie Thornton Plymale
The Long Tail of Trauma: A Memoir by Elizabeth Wilcox
Why Be Happy When You Could be Normal? by Jeanette Winterston
Blood: A Memoir by Allison Moorer
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
Liar’s Club by Mary Karr
And one more …
Read this one before letting anyone in your family read your story:
Family Trouble: Memoirists on the Hazards and Rewards of Revealing Family Introduction and Edited by Joy Castro