Hi, I’m Holly Holt, creator of
Story Tending.
Lately, I’ve been living with this question: What if it’s not about being whole? What if embracing the parts that feel broken is the secret? For years, I felt like there must be something wrong with me. I was awkward and sensitive, a creative thinker who felt way too much. The Embodied Writing practices I offer you here are the same ones that led to my own healing...and to my people.
As an Enneagram 4/INFP, longing has always been my first language, which means I love exploring the depths. Lots of fumbling around in the dark led me to find my place in the world as a writer, musician, and movement facilitator. If you want to give me a label, perhaps try Renaissance Woman.
I'm the mother of a really cool artist-historian, and I’ve been married for a million years to a man who knows how to fix things but who does not try to fix me. We have far too many cats. I’m a sensitive soul who loves funky thrift store finds, collecting rocks & shells & feathers, and filling my house with rescued furniture & art by friends and family. I am not a minimalist. I will not apologize.
Some stories you might want to know:
• I picked up the guitar at 30 because I wanted to write my own songs. I made a promise to myself to play an hour a day for one whole year, but it only took 6 months before I played my first song at an Open Mic. You can hear me tell the story here or here.
• In 2004, I released my one and only solo album, no horses. I’m still wrestling with how to tell the story of that time, but perhaps the music already does that. I’d love it if you listened here or here and maybe even added a song or two to your playlist.
• I’ve spent my life navigating the world in a sensitive body, which means I’ve suffered many “mystery illnesses” and experienced my fair share of gaslighting. It has taken me years to discover that I don’t need a doctor. I simply need to give my nervous system special care, take my sweet time to process my emotions…and remember that there’s nothing wrong with me.
• I’m a trained Amherst Writers & Artists facilitator, 500-hour yoga teacher and serious Enneagram student, but I am no enlightened being. I believe in practicing the things that make you feel curious, alive, and oh-so-human.
• Writing feels like the first language that was mine. It still does. When I entered my 40s, I began to claim my writing voice in a more powerful, embodied way. I’ve written more than one article about midlife. You can read a couple of them at Somatic Psychotherapy Today and Jennifer Magazine.
• In 2016, I interviewed 100 women about transitions in their lives. The ripples from those conversations still stay with me today and made my mission very clear: to create uninhibited, quiet spaces for women to trust their own voices and find out what’s true. You are an original, and so is your story. Let’s coax it out of hiding together.
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