Are you brave enough to bring the deepest secret of your life to the world? Are you brave enough to speak your heart in front of everyone? Are you brave enough to talk about your emotions, and how they trap you and you rise above every time they want to pull you down?

If your answer is yes, pat on your back. If your answer is no, I hear you.

It’s okay if you can’t gather the courage to bare your soul in front of the world. It’s perfectly fine if you are afraid or worried or not sure about how to approach to your dear ones and speak about what you have been carrying in your heart for a long time.

Sometimes, we need a push from the people we love, we care about. Sometimes, we need a motivational force to guide us to walk ahead and sing our hope aloud to the world. Sometimes, we need to do something unthinkable to emerge into the most fearless version of ourselves.

Only then, you will see, how the world opens a new door to you and welcomes you to voice your courage. And this is what happens when you tell your story.

Last year, my fellow blogger friends, Roma Gupta Sinha and Rakhi Jayashankar hosted a wonderful blog hop on emotional wellness. Many of the great writers from the blogging fraternity hopped in and we had an amazing experience reading each other’s posts during the blog hop. Next, Roma planned to bring everyone under one umbrella and compile those outstanding pieces into an anthology.

And voila! Here’s what we welcomed as her dream-come-true passion project.

About the Book:

Title: Brave Inked Emotions: Soulful life experiences of eminent Indian writers on how life taught them precious lessons in their emotional battles

Editor: Roma Gupta Sinha

Publisher: NotionPress

Genres: Non-fiction, Biography, Autobiography

Buy at: NotionPress | Amazon | Flipkart

Your emotions can make you or break you. Whatever may be the emotion that you are feeling right now, if you can’t have control over it, it can lead you towards the road of destruction. However, emotions, if handled carefully and delicately, can lead you to the path of self-discovery.

And this is the core theme of the book ‘Brave Inked Emotions’. Conceptualized, executed and compiled by Roma Gupta Sinha, this anthology of 31 soulful true stories of life experiences revolving around the theme of ‘Emotional Wellness’, will keep you glued to the pages till the end.

You can check how readers enjoyed reading this book and left their feedback on Goodreads.

The contributing authors of this book, having been prominent in the Blogosphere for a long time, and consistently showing their writing charisma, have shared their experiences with different states of mental and emotional issues that may include tips on positive parenting or recovering from a trauma or embracing life’s virtues like gratitude, forgiveness and more, to embrace peace of mind.

Therefore, this book will enthrall you with the enriching true stories shared by the authors, because in every line, in every single chapter of the book, you will realize the authors have lived their words.

And here lies the X-factor of our anthology, ‘Brave Inked Emotions.’

About the Contributing Authors:

All the contributing authors of this book are prolific writers and they have been doing well in the Blogging industry for a long time. All of them have their own websites where they pen down their thoughts and share helpful insights to provide their readers with suggestions to live life to the fullest.

Therefore, apart from reading a book with tips and tools to make your emotional wellness a priority, you will also have a wholesome reading experience with this book as all of the writers offer you a true story woven with utmost intricacy by putting their heart and soul to make the book a success.

About the Editor:

This book is the brainchild of our beloved editor saheba, Roma Gupta Sinha. She brainstormed the idea of gathering us and compiling our blog posts into a beautiful book on emotional wellness.

Being her eighth book, this anthology is aimed at women’s empowerment in India. She is an acclaimed writer and a veteran blogger, having been coveted with awards like ‘Woman of the Year’ Award in 2015 for her writings on Women Empowerment, Equality, Rights, and Liberation on her blog www.trulyyoursroma.com and the prestigious ‘Planet’s Pride Award 2018’.

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My Experience with Brave Inked Emotions as a Contributing Author:

When I came across the notification about the blog hop, at first, I was reluctant to join in because at that moment my mind was in a terrible state. I was feeling exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed, and whatnot! However, when my fellow blogger friends encouraged me to participate, finally, I made up my mind and took the plunge.

While writing my blog post (now a chapter of the book) for the blog hop, I had a roller-coaster ride of emotions. I was glad that I decided to participate because amidst that overwhelmed state of my mind, I discovered some gems of revelation and without wasting a single moment, I wrote them all in my blog post (read chapter).

I am pretty sure all my co-authors did the same, and here lies the secret of the success of this book. The anthology, Brave Inked Emotions, presented by Roma Gupta Sinha, is a gem of a book where you will find true stories of people who faced it for real. I believe, none of us faked the emotions inked on the pages of this anthology. Every chapter you read brings fresh air to you as the stories are as courageous, as honest, as true as the writers are.

Every time I see someone speaking about their mental and emotional baggage, I see they let go of the pain, the grief, the part of their wounds that was binding them to the past. And then, I see, how gracefully they embark on the path of healing.

And this is the magic of storytelling.

How Sharing Stories Helped My Co-authors Heal:

Sharing my story in this book was an incredible experience for me. Well-being is one of the central themes of my blog posts. I have shared my personal experiences of mental and emotional upheavals on different online platforms and also on my blog, The Blissful Storyteller.

However, sharing my experience this time was entirely different than before.

Writing about the chapter of my life when I experienced emotional turmoil for the first time, helped me recollect my memories, ponder upon them in a new perspective, and then, embrace my weakness as my strength. Every time I talk about my emotional turmoil or share my story of conquering the challenges life has thrown to me, I feel braver than before.

When it came to being part of this anthology, I was determined to write everything I felt and how emotions made me know myself better. My chapter, ‘Finding a Sense of Harmony’, is an ode to my younger self who faced it all, and with time, she became more and more resilient to life’s challenges. I hope the young readers of this book find my chapter helpful in coping with the turbulent phase of adulthood.

I asked the brain behind BIE, Roma Gupta Sinha, how she felt after sharing her slice of life in this book and compiling the chapters into this wonderful anthology. Here’s what she said,

“To me writing is therapeutic and magical, so baring my soul has always helped me heal in ways more than one. When I share with the world, the idea is not to gain sympathy but it is driven by a deep sense of sisterhood. The sharing is to be help a sister from another mother in similar boat struggling and battling a similar situation. When it helps her feel better, the universe uplifts me and alleviates my agony. Not only in my book, ‘Brave Inked Emotions’ where I had contributed two heartfelt pieces, baring my soul is my way of connecting with the vibrations of the universe sending love, warmth and care in all directions to all souls and it magically heals me every time.
I don’t have a scientific explanation of this but compassion has incredible power to soothe our hearts and that’s why sharing this book with the masses has given my heart unparalleled joy and contentment. Words fail me to express how deeply empowered I feel by creating a resource where we all have combined our efforts for a common purpose of securing the emotional wellness of our sisters.”

I also asked my co-authors how baring their souls in the book ‘Brave Inked Emotions’, helped them heal. Here is what they replied to my question.

Ambica Gulati shared how writing has been cathartic to her and how sharing her story helped her let go of the emotional burden.

“Writing has always been therapeutic for me. I noticed that after writing, I tend to be at rest with the things that matter. Emotional turmoil is a burden, and the best way to shed it is by writing it out and letting it dissolve from thereon. It’s like sharing a secret. You are no longer the custodian of your pain, it’s for the universe to take care of it now that it’s written.”

Dr. Preeti Chauhan shared how telling her story to the world helped her cope with the loss and that’s why, she sent the readers a message ‘It’s okay to feel not okay’, through her chapter in the book.

“My post was about the time when my father and our whole family were fighting a losing battle against brain cancer. I wrote this post after we lost the fight and Dad was no more with us. Writing about it primarily was to send a message that it’s OK to be depressed and anxious and I shared it so that those who were fighting the same battle can get the message that they are not alone. But while writing this post I felt I was just holding in a deluge of emotions inside me and when I was trying to pen them, I was overwhelmed, so much so that at one point I thought it was a bad idea to poke my still green wounds. I wanted to give up but I didn’t.

The process proved cathartic for me and helped me come to terms with my loss. Writing for the book actually helped me heal and I wish to thank Swarnali who motivated us to write about our personal experience with emotional turmoil and Roma who took it a step further and compiled these into a book form and got them published.”

(Thank you, Preeti. I am glad that you could share your story with the world and it helped you cope with the grief.)

Abha Singh told us how storytelling helped her find a sense of comfort by revealing her experience to the world.

“Opening up about my struggles has been a source of comfort, allowing me to navigate through pain and find strength in vulnerability.”

Aditi Kapur shared how writing about bullying helped her learn things in a new light and how she went to the root of the problem to address the factors, thus, finding a peaceful way to treat the problem and reach the solution.

“Bullying has a significant impact on Gen Z individuals. Initially, I was not ready to accept that my child had been a victim of bullying for quite some time. The repeated incidents of harassment by a classmate left my child broken.  I googled, consulted a few psychologists, and did what I could to find out the best practices to help my child out of the emotional turmoil. When I got the opportunity to share my experience in ‘Brave Inked Emotions,’ I instantly grabbed it. I was relieved that it would assist many parents in helping their children deal with the emotional turbulence.

The research I did on Gen Z’s mental health surprised me. I came to know that Gen Z people are more likely to suffer from mental health disorders than any other previous generation. It has become our duty to guide our children in the right direction based on the challenges life throws at them. The thing is, those challenges are new for us too, and we need to learn from scratch.”

Cindy D’Silva shared how accepting her emotional turmoil helped her heal and improve her overall well-being.

“The first step to healing is acceptance. I could write my story only once I accepted my emotional turmoil. While writing my story I realized many things that I wouldn’t have if I had not written down my thoughts. For example, I realized how my impulsive thought of not encouraging my kids to be scared also helped me become a little braver than I am. Telling my story helped me identify the reason for my pain, accept it, and find solutions to heal, not only for my well-being but for the well-being of my kids and family as a whole.”

Harjeet Kaur talked about how sharing her story helped her take one step forward towards her healing process and this way, she found peace.

“My life is an open book, where I’ve shared my journey through grief, depression, financial struggles, and single motherhood. Sharing these challenges has been cathartic and therapeutic. It’s not just about expressing pain; it’s about finding solace in vulnerability. Each time I share, I unravel the knots of grief and emotional turmoil within me. It’s a step towards healing, a testament to my resilience. Through sharing, I confront my demons, finding strength in acknowledging my struggles. And as others relate to my experiences, I realize I’m not alone. Together, we navigate pain’s complexities, finding comfort in our shared humanity. Sharing brings healing, and in healing, I find peace.”

Anjali Tripathi shared how sharing the story in this book helped her friend acknowledge her feelings, an important step in the healing process, and thus, she changed her outlook towards parenting.

“One of my friends always wondered why I stayed calm during kids’ exams. It’s strange that I still haven’t picked the best subject for my child in 11th grade. When I received the book Brave Inked Emotions, I gifted it to her, suggesting that she read my chapter within it. After she finished reading my story, “Don’t Judge a Child by his Grades,” she came to me with tears. She said she never realized how much pressure she put on her child for good grades.

By reading about my experience and reflecting on her own parenting approach, she gained insight into the pressure she was putting on her child. This realization allowed her to acknowledge her feelings and make positive changes for both herself and her child. She promised to change and let her child follow his interests. Her words made me proud, knowing one mom had bravely decided to do things differently. I hope others get inspired, too.”

Prisha Lalwani shared how sharing her version of the mother-daughter story helped her walk towards acceptance, the first step of the healing journey.

“Telling my story magnified my fears. I had taken the leap of faith, but it left me feeling vulnerable and kind of like “out in the open”. It’s been a little complicated to accept compliments and feedback as it feels like people can see through me. But I’m very grateful for the opportunity and just being able to touch lives. Most importantly, presenting the daughter’s side of the story has been liberating and somewhere it made me feel acceptable.”

Samata Dey Bose shared how sharing her story with everyone paved a way to bring the readers who faced the similar situation, a scope to introspect and address the root of the problem and find a practical solution. Eventually, this helped the author heal herself by sharing her slice of life with others.

“I was hurt but neither pained nor in grief during the period when I experienced what I talked about in my chapter. I am a very practical person in life and when the opportunity came to pen down my emotional turmoil I went through I didn’t hesitate to write. Some after reading the story doubted how much of it real or totally scripted to many it may seem so because they have not experienced it in reality but if they take a dive in Eastern states of the nation they will find how realistic my chapter was. I healed myself way back some 7 to 8 years ago because I analyzed the root cause, and discussed the same in a healthy way to get down to a solution. The storytelling gave me the chance to share the ways I adopted with many like me who are unable to get solution to similar problems in their life.“

Concluding Thoughts:

Inking your emotions is an act of bravery, and if you can do it successfully, you will realize how it helps you heal. In the similar way, sharing your story with the world can bring you the much-awaited peace as it helps you express yourself better.

Storytelling helps you define your wounds in a new light.

As a result, your emotions find a way to be released through the process of storytelling. So, don’t wait for the right time to tell your story. The world is waiting for you, tell your story now.

Stories heal, trust me.

(Roma Di dedicated our anthology, BIE Vol 1 to her mother. I dedicate this blog post to all our mothers, who have been the central force of our motivation, who have been the inspiration to everything we do. This mother’s day, we salute to all the mothers who teach their children to face everything courageously and be a ‘Brave’ child.

I draw my inspiration to ink my story with this bravery, from my mother and my maternal grandmother. I am blessed to have this brave gene in me.

Thank you to every mother in this world, for gifting us this beautiful life and showing us how to reach the light after every phase of darkness. Thank you for being our light, Maa.

Wishing you all Happy Mother’s Day.)