Wendy Willis Baldwin Discusses "The Sisters We Were"
On this episode of Health Gig, Tricia and Doro have a fascinating conversation with author (and beekeeper!) Wendy Willis Baldwin. Baldwin has just released her debut novel, The Sisters We Were, which is inspired by her relationship with her sister (who lost over 300 pounds). They discuss the burden of secrets, how trauma can both divide and unite, and how her new novel is a story not of despair, but of redemption and healing.
More on Wendy Willis Baldwin:
Website: wendywillisbaldwin.com
Podcast: lifeafterfatpantspodcast.com
Facebook: facebook.com/wendy.baldwin.39
Instagram: .instagram.com/awendyway
Twitter: twitter.com/WLBaldwin
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Quotes:
We don't have enough stories in fiction where we're highlighting the struggle and what people who are battling that level of morbid obesity are going through. Wendy Willis Baldwin
This story is really about sisterhood and how we're all just one decision away from a totally different life. Wendy Willis Baldwin
If I share something with you, it's an intimacy. It's a way you've understood some element about me. Secrets are heavy and that is the overarching theme of the story. Wendy Willis Baldwin
Show Notes:
Wendy Willis Baldwin: I find myself almost 54 years old. I'm living on a farm on the Connecticut River. I'm a beekeeper and I'm living in the Great White North.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: The story behind the story is really that of my own up close and personal experience with my younger sister, who at one time at her heaviest, weighed 531lbs.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: There were reasons rooted, you know, very, very serious psychological reasons that so many people, not just my sister, but so many of us end up with with addictions or challenges like this.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: My sister and I, we had gone through in real life we were both victims of child sexual abuse by an older relative who has since gone on.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: My sister was 40 before she began to lose her weight.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: When I first talked to my sister about writing this story, it was really fun.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: This whole story is really a story about sisterhood and about how we're all just one decision away from a totally different life.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: I think body positivity is about doing positive things for your body, and one of those things that you can do is try to be healthy in all ways.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: Once we see her begin to take those steps toward valuing herself, that's when things start to really open up for for Pearl. And it's when, quite frankly, she and Ruby begin to have more of a relationship.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: Every relationship kind of expands and contracts, like in direct proportion to the secrets we keep.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: The podcast that she and I developed together, The Life After Fat Pants podcast. And the name of that was actually born out of an article I'd written.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: It is very much a sister story and it's one of of overcoming and healing.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: We bonded over sharing truth with each other and not sort of breaking down the facade that had been our respective lives.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: She's someone who works in an assisted living facility, taking care of people with Alzheimer's.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: I found it very interesting to have a protagonist who seemingly has a hard time taking care of herself, but she is masterful at taking care of those around her.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: It's a story that puts the power back into the hands of the victims.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: I'm working on a story about a woman who who basically finds her true north and and decides to follow the very cryptic instructions of her dad's suicide note.
Wendy Willis Baldwin: I just find fiction to be pretty liberating.
Tags:
TriciaReillyKoch, DoroBushKoch, HealthGig, Longevity, Wellness, PhysicalHealth, MentalHealth, Health, HealthCare, TheSistersWeWere, WendyWillisBaldwin, WeightLoss, Secrets, LifeAfterFatPants