How to Walk into a Room: Release Week!
The art of knowing when to stay and when to walk away
Hi Soul Minimalist! It’s a big week around here. Today I’m sharing about the moment I knew I had to write How to Walk into a Room that releases this very week. (And how you can still get the free gifts.)
When we left our church in 2020, it was so sad and lonely and private that I couldn’t talk about it hardly at all, much less on the Internet. I wasn’t sure I would ever tell that part of our story and I’m confident that if I had chosen to keep it private, that would have been just fine.
But several years into it, as I shared the smallest bit here and there, I realized there are so many of us who are holding similar questions about the rooms we’re in: not only the rooms of faith but other kinds of rooms, too.
Like a hot bolt through my body, like an urgent call, like a dream you wake from and know there is something you were supposed to do but forgot, that’s how it felt in me when I realized this was the next book I had to write. And by the time I realized it, I had a distinct sense that time was running out. So I got to work.
This is a book that wanted to arrive within a very specific window of time. I wasn’t ready a minute sooner and I’m not sure I would be able to write it now if I had waited any longer. It’s not a deconstruction memoir or even a book only about leaving our beloved church (although I do tell that full story). Mostly, it’s a book about how to discern if it’s time to leave a space, how to navigate spaces where you’re forced to leave, and how to enter new spaces without villainizing or romanticizing the last ones.
It’s about how to navigate endings when there is no closure, how to discern the difference between true peace and discomfort avoidance, and how to find courage when it’s time to leave but you don’t feel ready (and when you’re ready to leave but it’s not yet time.)
I’ll share about our questions, longings, and faith journey when we learned one of our kids was questioning their sexuality. I’ll share what happened and what I wish had happened. I wrote as much of the story as I was able to claim as my own while working hard to respect the parts that don't belong to me.
If I were to tell you the honest truth, I believe this book could save people’s lives. I know it saved mine.
I needed to write the book I wished I had, one that could handle the nuance, confusion, grief, curiosity and even the joy of leaving rooms and finding new ones.
So if this is a book you think would be helpful to you or someone you love as you (or they) stand at a threshold with questions, confusion, or anticipation of what might be next, I hope you’ll get a copy.
Because you’re a Soul Minimalist, I already know for sure that you see through a BS marketing pitch. I hope that’s not what you find here. The simplest truth is I’m a writer and a mom and a spiritual director. And I am always holding the tension of offering my work with generosity, honesty, and clarity.
What I can tell you is that I’m proud of this book that took more courage to write than perhaps any other book I’ve written so far AND I created some truly thoughtful bonuses for early supporters so I really want you to get them! So that’s why I have talked about this stuff for two months straight. Lord have actual mercy.
If you get your copy by Friday March 15 at midnight, you can still get all of the free gifts we offered for preorder bonus as a thank you for your early support.
Learn more about the free gifts here.
Amazon US (just marked it 20% off the hardcover as of this morning)
Barnes and Noble | Bookshop.org | Bookmarks | Books-A-Million
Thank you for your kind words, shares, and celebratory emoji. I’m shocked by the number of you who have told me you got the book yesterday and have already finished it. (!!) If you write a review it will help so much!
I’m glad you’re here,
epf
P.S. As always I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Have you received your book yet? Do you have questions? Tell me everything.
Emily, I needed this book. I've just started it as it arrived yesterday. This year I was forced out of rooms. An aunt who I had been very close to had stopped emailing me everyday or answering my emails, out of the blue stopped. My BIL stopped talking to me too. No more sharing music, nothing. I was his sponsor in RCIA in the Catholic Church and just became Godmother to his daughter but I'm navigating that space. Since the pandemic and all my extended families kids have grown up, there are no more kid parties. So while cousins and aunts live locally I don't see much of them and they are like strangers now when we get together on Christmas. I always get anxious at Christmas with having to see a bunch of strangers. Your book is helping me realize that it is okay and I don't need to carry baggage from past relationships with them that are no longer. It's very hard but it happens. You have written a wonderful book, a masterpiece! Congratulations! ❤️
Book and audio are UH-Mazing, can we also talk about those shoes in the picture there? 👀🤣💕