Interlude

I guess I’ll start this blog by apologizing for my long absence. I’ve been meaning to write something for a while, but I was having trouble figuring out what it was I wanted to say. But I think I finally have.

I’ve decided, after much debate, that I am not going to be posting much of my own content on the website anymore. Looking back through my last several posts I wasn’t telling stories so much as I was writing opinions. Not there is anything particularly wrong with that, but it’s not what I had intended for the website when I first created the project after retiring from the CAF.

While I still have stories to share, I found that telling them was equal parts traumatic and cathartic. Despite the conflicting emotions it caused, ultimately it was a positive experience as it did spur me to go and seek out support from a mental health professional. That decision led to a profound improvement in my understanding of my military experiences and how they affect my present behaviours, beliefs, and ultimately shaped me into the person I am today.

That said, I won’t be deleting the website or the stories/opinions on it. That would be extremely unfair to those who trusted me enough to share their stories on this platform. I remain eternally honoured for that privilege.

So, going forward I will act primarily as a caretaker of the website and the stories contained within it. I will write the occasional post when I think of a story I want to share, or if I’m going to do some fundraising to for a veteran charity. I’ll save my opinions for the Western Standard, an independent news media organization whose writing pool I recently joined as a columnist.

But mostly I’ll just standby in case someone wants to share an experience they had in the CAF but doesn’t have a platform to do so otherwise. As always, I’ll still offer help in the way of proofreading, and any other assistance required to make sure your story is presented the way you want it to be.

There is so much to gained by the sharing of our stories, both by those who write them and those who will read them. As I’ve said before, your story is unique, and it deserves to be told and understood. It doesn’t matter if your served 1 year or 35 years, or if you have 10 deployments or none. Don’t discount your own voice, it’s a vital component in the symphony played by the orchestra that is the CAF.

Your story might help someone understand their own experiences better or give confidence to someone facing a similar situation. Maybe it will cause someone to laugh which gets them through their day. Or perhaps it’ll be the catalysts which causes someone reflect about their own actions and leads them to become a better person, leader, or follower.

Ultimately you may never know what impact your story will have, unless you keep it to yourself. In that case, you can be assured it will be zero – and that is a shame.

Please share your stories, if not here on Unbloused then in a diary, or a scrap of paper you put in a safety deposit box…something…anything. You’ll be surprised how easy it is once you start; remember it’s just one word at a time.

All the best,

John