Welcome Back — Dr. Yildiz!

Back here where we need ya — welcome back!!!

If you’ve been reading my articles, you know that music is very important to me. Songs pop into my head, as messages and/or signs. So no surprise to me this morning as I checked into Medium and saw Illumination was back up and running, I heard the theme song to Welcome Back Kotter.

I’m not saying Dr. Yildiz is Mr. Kotter, or that any of us are sweathogs — lol. The song was just the right fit!

What we are is a community — a community that is full of really talented, creative writers — and a community that I feel is full of support, light and love…

…Led by a man, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, who is a catalyst for connection.

I love this quote by Brene Brown! And what she states is indeed true. I saw it first hand when I led meetings for WW.

And I see it now on Illumination — a place where we feel seen, heard and valued. This isn’t just a publication where we write an article and hit submit.

It’s a community where we support each other. We highlight, support, tag, prompt and respond.

We connect — I feel the love and light here! There is a relationship among us that feeds me, that strengthens me. I’m not alone, in isolation.

We were all brought together by a man that is such a light worker, shining so brightly, especially during this time of interesting darkness.

And that light went out for me on Thursday the 23rd. I noticed later in the day that Illumination disappeared. I wasn’t sure if it was the maintenance that Dr. Yildiz wrote about as we attracted more readers. Or if it was the person that was looking to cause trouble…I just knew I was in the dark.

Later in the evening I had a notification that I was tagged in a response of Paul Myers MBA to Salam Khan’s article. In this heartfelt article, Salam had mentioned some fellow writers.

The connection — and the support received…

My fear — the latter…Illumination’s light was turned off…

Paul wrote a response. I am not tech savvy, but I wanted to share and here’s my way. My kid’s would be rolling their eyes — It’s a picture of my computer screen taken on my phone. (JeffHerring.com & Tim Maudlin, I’m happy to lead a webinar on this- lol)

Paul then tagged in more writers in his heartfelt response. And may I add, how deeply touched I was to be included among these awesome writers!

The connection…and support.

I then responded to Paul:

Look at how much support I received — for a response…

All that support — how much support did I receive for my articles prior to Illumination? Little to zero. I was writing, but I wasn’t seen.

I have noticed other writers sharing this as well…

Connection is the energy created between people when they feel seen, heard and valued…

“Please keep in me in the loop”, I ended — as without Illumination, I lost my connection.

When Illumination’s light was turned off, I went dark on Medium. I shared how sad I was, how wrong I felt this was with others not in the Illumination community. It was suggested that I just get on some other publications in Medium.

Good advice, but advice I didn’t want to follow.

Illumination just wasn’t another publication on Medium.

I spent the last 24 hours contemplating if I would even publish anything on Medium again. I was having a hard time continuing on a site that shut down a man that started a publication, gave much of his time with guidance and support, was transparent, professional, kind, and meant a lot to so many of us. A friend.

A man which brought an audience to my writing. And a NEW community to me of fabulous writers that I would not have had contact with otherwise. A place where during isolation, I did not feel alone…

In this past month, I feel I have made many friends in our community. Now, we haven’t met (may never), haven’t shared a meal or even had verbal contact. Yet, I’m using the term friend. Why? It fits! How? I googled and found this definition:

A friend is someone other than your family or mate. You share kindness, sympathy, empathy, compassion, common interests, common beliefs, loyalty, and fun with them. They can be in person or online. There are different degrees of friendship.

I am thrilled that we are back together in Illumination! We could have continued to follow each other, but without our publication, it would have been more time consuming. Looking up each other’s names instead of clicking on the articles just released.

I’ve interacted with so many, and I’m listing some that feel like friends to me. When I see your name, it makes me smile. I appreciate your support with my articles and I enjoy supporting your articles. Gurpreet Dhariwal, Henery X (long), Trista Ainsworth, Indra Raj Pathak, Rasheed Hooda, Amy Marley, Desiree Driesenaar, Paul Myers MBA, Livia Dabs, Aurora Eliam, CMP, Ksenia Sein, Selma, Terry Mansfield, Kathryn A. LeRoy, Ph.D., Timothy Key, Salam Khan, Marcela Cruz-Gibbons, P.G. Barnett, Mike Schoenhofer, Bill Abbate, Mary Holden, 🦄 Chris Hedges, Ann K Frailey, Kevin Buddaeus, John Ross, Jessica Cote, Karen Madej 💛, Melody Campbell, Joe Luca, Daniella Mini, Thomas Anderson, Tim Maudlin, JeffHerring.com

Thank you friends for being such a support. Taking the time to read, highlight, respond, tag, prompt… I’m so grateful to all of you!

And I look to connect with more as we continue on with the journey.

I’m most grateful to Dr Mehmet Yildiz — and I am so grateful that you are back!

Welcome back… you should have never been pulled….

Until next time ~

Sending you light, love — and virtual hugs!

Be Well,