Amy Griffin
speaker
222 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Mar 2025
last heard Mar 2025
Amy Griffin’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Well, I think being scared is good because it means you're doing something important. If I didn't say I was scared to come sit down, if I didn't say I was scared to tell this story, every time I said it, then it wouldn't be important. So I think that's really important. And I would say, take out a piece of paper and write it down in your handwriting so you're connected to it.
You can either put it in a drawer And you can, or you can look at it every day until you're ready. So just tell yourself. And then I would say back to that idea of forming a memory that we all have to have that person in our life that you can look in the eye and it really doesn't even matter what you're saying.
It's not really even necessarily the words because I have distinct memory of all of my closest friends. I can go through the 20 friends in the last, in the year after the aftermath of what I was going through.
And I can tell you not even what was said, but the mannerisms of the human connection that I had with the way that they looked me in the eye, or they held my hand, or in the case of my best friend, Rachel, I was with her two weekends ago and I said, you know, still trying to maybe doubt my memory a little bit.
And I said, you know, it's funny, I remember writing in the book that when I told you my story, you held my feet. And I said, is that right? You've never held my feet before. Why would you hold my feet? And she said, I did hold your feet because it was the only part of you that I could reach because you were curled up in a ball and I reached for you and that was what I got.
And so that's my memory. And so to anyone that has that story to tell, find that person that you can create that connection with. I...
I hope that every person that picks up this book finds a little piece of themselves.
and that they find a little thread of themselves the way that I found myself. And in knowing that, if I hear those stories, I will feel so much joy. I will feel so much joy. I don't know that I'm gonna know all the stories, but I had something happen two weeks ago when I got back from break and I'd given an early reader copy to a friend And then someone else came to me and said, I read your book.
And I kind of looked over and I thought, but I didn't give you my book. And then I realized, and she said, oh, so-and-so gave it to me after the holiday. She read it and she passed it on. And I thought, oh, that's it. That's just it right there. And I was scared, by the way. I was really scared. And I went into protection mode. as I say this, because I thought, no, no, wait a minute.
I don't have control. I'm not in control. I didn't give that person the book.
And then I went to a new place of joy of this is exactly what was supposed to be happening.
Someone else cared enough about my words that it didn't come from me. That they said, I want to share this with you because maybe they had a story to tell. Yeah.
I was in the closet. I'd just gotten out of the bathtub. I was soaking wet.
Oh, my God. I don't know that anyone ever expects that Oprah's going to call, but it was a beautifully, very validating moment, I will just say.
Well, first, Oprah, I just want to say I'm so grateful. I have so much gratitude to be sitting here with you today. And this audience, because in its simplest form, the book is about telling. And sometimes it's the hardest thing to do. It's the hardest thing we do, but that's what we're doing right here. And that's what the book is.
And I think the idea that we think secrets keep us safe, but they keep us stuck. And I really came to understand that.
Only as sick as your secrets. Yes. And I had so many memories of standing in line at a Starbucks when I was actually, in the last few years, as I was writing this book, and then I was in the process of doing all of this.
that I was standing in line looking at the cake pops and everything in the background and thinking I'm about to tell someone my story because so many times my story was told over a cup of coffee. And so I have these intense memories of gathering my thoughts as to how I was going to tell someone my story. And the idea that the secret really, the secrets are really all memories.
They're memories that come from... the beautiful parts of my book, which is in the writing of my childhood, which I so loved. I loved writing about doing cartwheels in the field and catching ladybugs in a jar and all these memories that we all have from childhood.
And, you know, getting on my banana seat bike and riding off to take all of my friends to the convenience store, which was close to our house, which was the convenience store that happened to be owned by my family, which was our family business and is our family business.
Showing 101–120 of 222 · page 6 of 12
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