Opinion: Memoirs Are the MOST Important Form of Storytelling

Just read the article

May 16, 2025

Storytelling is something that has been coming up for me more and more in the last few years. I am 2 years into Substack, and this is where I started being more open, more transparent, more vulnerable. For some, I’m still not vulnerable enough, but my Mercury is in Scorpio. My walls can be quite high. I am not a fiction writer. I am not sure I can call myself a writer at all. These love letters feel more like love letters, friendship correspondences than anything else. They feel authentic and true, not like I am trying to be a writer. The words pour forth, but they are rarely perfectly coifed.

I am reader (again… after an almost decade long break) and a fiction reader at that. Non fiction has always been hard for me, hence school being exceptionally difficult. As a fiction reader, I can lose myself completely in the world, the characters, the plot and never once come up for air. I can completely compartmentalize it from the real world which means oftentimes, I’m losing the text to life connections. These characters aren’t real. The world isn’t real. I’m here for fun. Why would I take the time to think critically when I just want to escape and be entertained? While I have improved since becoming a teacher, I know that when I escape into fiction, I am often there to leave life behind.

Memoirs though! Memoirs are stories. They’re non fiction. They are non fiction that feels like fiction when well done, but what I can’t do with memoirs is compartmentalize. What I lose while reading fiction hits me fully and completely in memoirs.

I have been reading more and more memoirs. Last week, I read All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung. It was so good. I am not Korean, nor am I adopted, but it still spoke to me because I am able to listen to different experiences with an open heart and mind. It taught me so much about adoption that I’ve never known because I’ve never experienced it. Memoirs as windows are incredibly powerful.

I am currently reading Unprotected by Billy Porter. It comes with every TW under the sun (CSA, SA, Racism, Homophobia, Classism). It is also an amazing read. Do I think everyone should read it? No. Not everyone’s nervous system can handle it. If you think yours can, definitely try it.

As I was listening last night, I realized that memoirs are truly, in my humble opinion, the most important form of writing. They are inspired authenticity. If you want to get back to your authentic self, your soul’s path and work, listen to/read a memoir. So far, nothing has brought me back to myself quite like listening to someone tell the story of their own lives, their own struggles, their victories and triumphs. Oftentimes, in a memoir, you are hearing a person’s soul path, and what an absolute honor it is to witness that.

Whether than memoir is serving as a window or a mirror, there is always something to learn, compassion to build, and a new lens with which to perceive the world in order to walk through it with more grace and kindness. (Don’t tell anyone I’m kind. I’m a Scorpio and cranky…)

Memoirs, for me, bring us back to reality. I am going to make it a habit of trying to read a memoir a month. I am a mood reader so I can’t guarantee it, but over the last couple of years, I have really found that they continually interest me and add so much to my life. Sometimes it’s a mirror, but more often than not, it’s a window into another lived experience that is oftentimes horrific. I listen. I learn. I hope to be prepared in my interactions with others to come from a place of curiosity, grace, and compassion.

Memoirs and teaching both are teaching me to break the cycles of bullying that I have learned from my family. Am I perfect? Nope. Not at all. I fuck up daily. I hurt people inadvertently daily. What I am doing less though is hurting them on purpose which used to be my entire MO, especially as I tried to survive being disregarded in school. Hurt them first so they can’t hurt you. That was it. I have changed. I am not perfect. I live the most honestly I can, and part of that is to tell you that I have not always been a kind, caring, or compassionate person. I was horrible as a teen because it was easier to bite than to open.

Aside from healing, memoirs have also taught me that everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has lived a unique experience, no two people’s experiences are identical. Not only that, everyone has a different storytelling style. Some will speak to you more than others. Tell your story, even if it is just to yourself.

Here’s an unpopular opinion: Initiated: Memoir of A Witch by Amanda Yates Garcia isn’t one of my go-to spiritual memoirs. I found it incredibly unrelatable. Does that mean it’s bad? Absolutely not. It’s just not for me. I’m not a partier. I’m not a drinker. I never lived abroad. I can’t relate to a lot of it, and the voice with which she writes doesn’t pierce my soul. For others though? It is THE book for them, and I love that! Everyone is different. That being said, I read it all the way back in 2021 or 2022, and I still think about portions of that book because the impact it did have on me was, “That’s crazy! I could NEVERRRRR. She was really brave.”

If you are struggling to find your voice, your authenticity, your story I have a couple of tips, and not because I’m an expert but because when I read articles like this one, I go, “Ok, and how do I engage with this?” and rarely are those things included.

Turquoise: Storytelling, opening your throat energy center, connecting with ancestors. Consider putting turquoise near your writing station whether that’s just a journal, your computer, or you’re writing a piece to be published. Put the intention of what help you’re seeking.

Oracle Cards: There is probably an oracle card in a deck you have about writing, storytelling, authenticity, voice, etc. Put it on your journal or your keyboard. Meditate with it. Put it on your altar. Resonate with that energy. Offer it on a the altar of a deity with whom you work.

Ace of Swords: Your pen is your sword! Don’t forget it. The Ace of Swords is about inspiration and going with it. Don’t overthink. Let your intuition take over.

This love letter may have hit a chord with you so let me know! Do you agree? Do you disagree? What are your thoughts? What is your favorite genre to read? Mine is actually cozy mysteries!!! Have you read any memoirs that have left your mind blown wide open??? Drop them for all to see!

The Oracle Portal

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