Renée Hartleib
Professional Writer and Writing Mentor - Inspiring others to find and give voice to their inner brilliance
“One day I broke out of my life like a sleepwalker crashing through a set of glass doors. Looking back, I saw blood, jagged glass, and shredded curtains. The end wasn’t pretty, but I was out. Out in the open air, inhaling the damp night and the smell of grass and wind and trees. Breathing raw life.”
I wrote these words at a writing retreat many years ago, after a couple of major life transitions. It was part of a longer piece of writing that flowed out of me and became the beginning of a blog that I called this sweet world.
The blog gave me a voice and a space to explore ideas that I found interesting. I wrote about how we all have an inner critic and how it holds us back. I wrote about creativity and community and solitude and the magical hand of the divine. I told stories about my own journey through this life, and asked my readers to reflect on theirs.
To my delight, what I was offering resonated with other people. I learned that when I showed up and told my truth, it gave others courage. Many people wrote me to say that I had inspired them to make large and small changes in their lives. This was humbling and so meaningful.
What this experience taught me is that many of us share this feeling of sleepwalking through life and desperately want to wake up. “Where’s the meaning? What’s my purpose? Why aren’t I happy?”
I know first-hand how it feels to be held back by fear and the crushing voice of an inner critic gone wild. Being able to offer comfort, inspiration, and a feeling of camaraderie to those who feel stuck is an important part of my life’s purpose, and it’s the core of my evolving business.
Today, I work with people to help them listen for a quieter voice inside them and then begin to express this inner soulful being, through writing and meaningful action. There is a lot of noise out there and so many things and people vying for our attention. It takes kindness, patience, and discipline to listen within and then act on what we find.
Through the articles I write, the projects and workshops I create, and my one-on-one mentoring, my aim is to guide people on the search for their truth, and to help them voice it.
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Writer, Writing Mentor
