I did it!
I just published on Amazon a short memoir about challenges I’ve been through—as an introverted Romanian-Canadian—and how they positively influenced my life: Crossroads Moments of My Life (Kindle format).
Then I wondered: What people will say about it? About myself and the stories I shared?
“The silence surprised me. For the first time, I shared a personal story in a workshop and the response from participants was… silence! That kind of silence where everyone processes what you just said. And you find yourself in awe that a personal story can have such power—to hold everyone’s attention more than the strategies you prepared to share, and they expected to receive. This happened in a workshop I delivered to one hundred project managers; that moment of silence occurred somewhere in the middle.”
Like most introverts, I don’t like to talk about myself. But a strong inner force pushed me on this journey: a desire to help others with the strategies I learned or developed in time. However, it took me a while to gain the courage to design and lead workshops.
What inspired me to share a personal story with the audience that day? It was probably this inner force at work, showing me—indirectly—what I can improve on.
For someone like me—with a background in the technical field (engineering, IT, quality assurance), an MBA, and a transition to system coaching a few years earlier—that silence taught me valuable lessons. Incorporating stories (whether personal or from clients) into what I do has become a norm from that day forward. My facilitation style also improved, allowing me to provide a more meaningful learning experience overall. I was no longer afraid to share, verbally, personal stories relevant to the content of the workshops I led.
In writing, however, it was a completely different story. It took me several non-fiction books to write and self-publish until I became more comfortable sharing my stories with the world in written format. Even though I have plenty!
I first shared something personal in the last chapter of my book Quiet Lessons for the Introvert’s Soul (after interviewing eleven introverts for the previous chapters). Their courage to share personal stories of struggles and triumphs was inspiring! I wish I had that courage when I wrote my first (award-winning) book Introverts: Leverage Your Strengths for Effective Job Search; but at least I shared some stories of my clients, and readers loved that.
It took me other three chapters—published in three anthologies of Immigrant Writers Association (IWA), Building Bridges (2019), Grow Together (2020), and Moving Forward (2021)—to finally find the courage to put together this book. The IWA members wrote those anthologies (including me); each chapter reflects the contributor’s perspective on the book theme. In my chapters, I wrote about my personal experiences and my perspective on life.
Crossroads Moments of My Life contains the chapters I wrote for those three anthologies, in the same order. I wanted to put them together in one book because they reflect better who I am as a person, beyond my professional achievements. They also give a glimpse of what I experienced when I was at several turning points in my life. Like that silence moment, although the moments I talked about in this book have changed my life trajectory in much more dramatic ways.
As you noticed, I gradually gained the courage to open up and share my own struggles and successes with the world. But the benefits and what I learned along the way far exceed my expectations… as you are about to find out!
The book comes with a bonus: List of 30 Introvert Strengths (downloadable PDF) You can find it on Amazon website corresponding to your country.
Hopefully, this book will inspire you to open up and share more often what you are going through, especially your crossroads moments. It might surprise you how many people will benefit from hearing or reading your stories.
Or you can get creative and use other non-verbal formats. Like what I did with the last two books from my Self-Coaching series (Metaphors: An Emotional Journey and Spiritual Concepts: A Visual Representation). I combined my photographs and my paintings with a few words to share my thoughts and life experiences in an art form.
We always have options!
Gabriela Casineanu
GabrielaCasineanu.com • My Books
Founder IntrovertsAcademy.org
—
The above content is an adaptation from the Crossroads Moments of My Life‘s Introduction.
