How to Submit to “Her True Nature” (& the Story Behind it) — and Why I would Love you to Be Part of the Journey.

Inspiring women to feel good from within.

Updated January 2024.

While you may not relate to my exact story, I think you will connect in some way to the journey of letting go of specific dreams (because you realised they weren’t everything you thought they were) — and opening yourself up to other doors that fulfil you.

Ever since I was a young girl, I dreamed about working at a magazine. I remember one week I was sick so I got to stay home from school. I watched Devil Wears Prada every day — even twice on one day. I was obsessed with the fashion world, with print magazines and design. I would sit on my floor and create scrapbooks, cutting out imagery from magazines to make my own.

I thought to myself, “One day, I would love to be in a magazine or work at one.” It seemed to be the ultimate dream, and if only I could achieve this, I would tell myself, “You’ve made it.”

I never set out to work in a publication and instead found myself in Real Estate. But I decided to jump ship in my mid-twenties and pursue journalism while working as a trainer. I would write about health and fitness and the “realness” of life, with people often commenting how relatable the messages were.

I’ve always liked sharing messages that I have personally struggled with — like the everyday stuff, the battles of life — and how I overcome things (or at least try to work through them).

And whenever I read other people’s words that impact me, I feel I can relate to someone and am not alone. So, I get it.

This path I was on was incredibly fulfilling. But suddenly, my dream of wanting to be in a magazine started rearing its head. Strangely an opportunity came about, and that dream came true. I was featured in an Australian magazine. It was a proud moment, mainly because I was representing holistic wellbeing. And that honoured the young girl in me.

But the funny thing was, it was purely a moment. It wasn’t life-changing, and I didn’t feel like I had “arrived.” After a lifetime of wanting to be in a magazine, I realised that it wasn’t everything I thought it would be. I was grateful, but I quickly laid to rest this fascination with being in magazines.

I went back to my life of training women — and loving it — until COVID19 came about. So, I set out to achieve my lifelong dream of working in publishing.

Over the years, I worked in digital media and publications, also meeting people within the industry. The experience was excellent, and I loved aspects of it — but something was still amiss.

Once again, I achieved something I thought would make me feel I had “arrived”. But I realised that I had over-glamourised the idea of magazines and publications. There were still problems and ethical things that didn’t align with me — just like any other industries.

I guess that’s the whole message within Devil Wears Prada.

Sometimes in life, we think if we could just do that, be that, or achieve that, then we have made it. And I guess when I was in my twenties, as someone still figuring things out, I thought that’s what life was about.

Arriving.

And that is the saddest way to view life.

In the Devil Wears Prada, the message is a strong one, and as a young girl (and even in my adult life) watching this movie repeatedly, I remained in denial about what the movie was about. I frothed over the whole concept of being part of something glamourous while cringing at the end of the film when she becomes a “normal journalist” at a “less than glamourise” newspaper.

How could she let go of such a wonderful, ambitious dream?

But now — I get it.

Having been in companies and the “glamourise industries” and achieving goals that I thought would make me feel I had “arrived” — I now see that “not everything that glitters is gold.”

We risk denying our true nature when we allow ourselves to idolise people, companies, and ideas above our own truth.

We’ve been sold this idea that “over there” is where we’ll be happy and content, but it’s not always the case. That’s part of learning to listen to our own intuition over the noise of the world.

Sometimes we need to achieve certain things in life to realise they aren’t everything we thought they would be. That’s part of self-discovery.

Sometimes we need to go down a path only to realise that it was absolute b*llshit, and it’s time to choose a different way. That’s part of figuring out we do and don’t want.

Sometimes we need the messiness to discover the beauty.

Sometimes we need to achieve these goals we thought would be “the best thing ever” to realise that maybe they aren’t — and something more natural, organic, and true awaits us.

Now I understand and appreciate the end of that movie — our integrity and wellbeing of our soul is the most important thing to treasure in life.

No job, person or industry is worth losing ourselves for. And if such things request us to forfeit our truth, perhaps it’s not everything we thought it would be and it’s okay to let that idea or dream die.

Maybe in a strange, yet cool, way, there is something more to that desire than we realise.

When we surrender our dreams, it feels scary. When we walk away from what we thought we “should” be doing, it feels scary too. We may feel like we are quitting but maybe we’re giving up something that’s not truly fulfiling to discover what is.

For me, my dream of magazines was there for a reason to discover my love for writing, wellbeing, design and building community especially a sisterhood.

And to be inspired one day to create a space where we can share the truths of womanhood in a world that tells us to hide, to seek perfection, to chase some glittery mountain and forfiet our true nature.

While beautiful imagery will be used in this publication — because you can’t take the love of design, magazines and photography outta ya girl — when I envision Her True Nature, I see people from all walks of life sharing their stories.

And you — sharing your truth.

A place where we can read something we can relate to because a hit of realness never goes astray.

I hope this story gives you a taste of why Her True Nature is here — and why I am inviting you on this journey. I’m excited and nervous and sometimes overwhelmed at starting this venture. But I am excited to share this with you.

How to be Part of the Her True Nature — and Why I would Love you to Be Part of the Journey.

1. Be a human being.
2. Write.

I have had messages asking, “What can I write about?”

Her True Nature is about inspiring women to feel good from within — the topic is up to you.

• You may be going through something challenging, and not many people talk about it openly — write about it.
• You may be a mother who wants to share the challenges — and or beauty — of being a parent. Write about it.
• You may want to share a transformational story about how you learned to embrace your stretchmarks or body — or are still trying. Write about it.
• You may have a story of something that happened to you and how you overcame it. Write about it.

Pitch an idea if you are unsure — it’s most likely something that needs to be said.

What if I’m not a writer — can I submit?

Her True Nature is not looking for “writers” — it’s about people who want to share from the heart.

When we write, there are two things that happen:

1. You grow and heal. As we write, we end up finding healing ourselves, and we can learn through the process of expressing ourselves via words. My advice would be to write whatever comes to you without editing or fixing spelling mistakes. For example, as I write this, I can see the red squiggly line throughout hinting at my terrible spelling errors — I don’t care. I have a message to write, and I’ll fix it later. Worrying about perfection throughout the creative process can kill self-expression, fantastic ideas and the magic of being in the flow.
2. When we share our words with others, we let them go into the world. It’s such a freeing experience. We also never know how those words will impact others. I used to write statuses on Facebook back when blogging wasn’t a thing. I didn’t care about likes. There were many times when my posts had no engagement. But interestedly, whenever I went out with friends or bumped into people — some who weren’t even on my friend list — they would comment about a status that impacted them. It made me realise that not everyone will like, comment or say anything. If we rely simply on these measurements to dictate whether or not we should share, it’s a loss to ourselves and others.

How to write an article (if you’ve never written one before):

1. Write your piece — a draft. Let yourself flow and get all your ideas onto the paper or screen.
2. When you go to edit your piece, read it out loud. It is the best way to find out where you are flowing, where you go off track, and to experience what your reader may experience.
3. When you read your piece, ask yourself, “Is the overall message clear?” Sometimes, there may be two or three messages. In these cases, I would split the article into separate pieces. While the theme may be the same (i.e. parenting, wellbeing), we don’t need to squeeze everything into one piece. If I am writing something and see a little off-topic part, I will open a new page and save it there. Pick one to work on for the launch, and set the other ideas aside for when the website goes live.
4. When editing your piece, chopping out parts that do not work or flow can make all the difference. Don’t be afraid to lance out sections. Clear and concise is always the better choice.
5. Run it through a free online program like Grammarly for spelling and grammar as the last step. I say last, as it’s good to learn to edit on your own first.

Be part of HER TRUE NATURE. Submit your piece.

I have requested women from all walks of life to submit a piece. The ideas that have flowed in so far have made me feel emotional (in a good way) because they are topics I don’t write or know about personally. They bring awareness to all areas of womanhood.

To submit your piece, please email your submission to [email protected] with a profile image, a short BIO and your social media links.

• Pieces must be original.
• Photos can be included for review. However, please note, that final image choice will be chosen by Her True Nature and it may be from another source.
• Word count must be between 800 to 3000.
• If you are referring to research include where you obtained the information.

All pieces will be considered. However, not everything can or will be published and that is within Her True Nature’s rights.

This may be why:

• The topic has nothing to do with inspiring women to feel good from within.
• The final piece will be edited for the platform, but if the submission has too many errors or feels incomplete, you will be notified.
• Plagiarism. If your work is plagiarised, we won’t accept submissions from you now and in the future.
• Libel. Please do not share facts that lead to the identity of someone in a negative light.
• Graffic information and ill use of language. This is a PG-13 website.

If you have any questions or want more information, do not hesitate to ask. If you don’t ask, seek or knock, how will you receive, find and be answered?

Her True Nature is on Medium

If you are a writer on Medium and would like to be added as a writer on the Her True Nature Medium publication, please comment why you would love to contribute and I can add you as a writer if it fits this platform.