Creative Nonfiction: Alone With Yourself. EN/ESP.

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Alone With Yourself.

Roberto is a man of strong character and very closed when it comes to expressing his feelings, he usually closes himself in his work routine in construction. But the truth is that his life is marked by the loss of family members, by having to take on responsibilities from a very young age and by the hardness of the work, which has led to a reluctance to share his thoughts and emotions with others.

One day, seeing Roberto's burden, his friend Susana invited him to a spiritual retreat organized by her church. Susana's idea was to help Roberto bring out all that was inside him and help him express his feelings so that he could begin to be happy. Despite his initial refusal, Susana was so insistent that Roberto finally agreed to participate in the retreat with the members of the congregation.

From the beginning, Roberto felt uncomfortable and out of place in that spiritual environment. The other retreatants noticed his attitude and tried to approach and converse with him as best they could, and although Roberto found it difficult to share, he did his best to be sociable and friendly with the other retreatants.

Throughout the retreat, people went through a series of guided exercises, both theoretical and physical contact, that challenged Roberto's emotional barriers. One of these exercises consisted of separating into pairs, regardless of gender, and after sharing for a while, they were to embrace and express to each other what they thought of each other, maintaining respect and politeness in communication.

These activities were totally alien to Roberto's way of thinking, who felt uncomfortable and out of his comfort zone. However, he went ahead with the commitment he had made to Susana. Besides, she was always close and supportive.

On the second night of the retreat, the Father Instructor conducted an introspection exercise that deeply impacted many of the participants, including Roberto. Emotions welled up in many people, tears welled up and many entered into an internal conflict that finally culminated in a plea for forgiveness to God.

Roberto was one of the last to give in to the experience. He struggled and resisted, going so far as to accuse the priest and the others of being false and crazy. However, after an overwhelming internal conflict, he finally fell into a disconsolate weeping that seemed to have no end. And in the process he did not want anyone to come near him.

The other participants became concerned about his condition and asked Father what was happening. The Capuchin Father calmly replied: "Don't worry, continue with your activities. Roberto is going through a process of profound transformation. He is facing his true essence and discarding all the masks he used to wear to hide the beautiful person he is. He is experiencing real growth, liberation and sincere humility".

Thus, that spiritual retreat experience marked a turning point in Roberto's life. Through introspection and prayer, he was able to face his own inner demons, release his repressed emotions and discover a new connection with himself and with God. This experience changed his heart and his view of the world, allowing him to finally open up to the expression of his feelings and find peace within himself.

Thank you for reading.


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Creative Nonfiction: A Solas Con uno Mismo:


Roberto, es un hombre de carácter fuerte y muy cerrado a la hora de expresar sus sentimientos, normalmente se encierra en su rutina de trabajo en construcción. Pero lo cierto es que su vida está marcada por la perdida de familiares, por tener que asumir responsabilidades desde muy joven y por la dureza del trabajo, lo que le ha llevado a la reticencia a compartir sus pensamientos y emociones con los demás.

Un día, al ver la carga de Roberto, su amiga Susana lo invitó a un retiro espiritual que organizaba su iglesia. La idea de Susana, era ayudar a Roberto a sacar todo lo que llevaba dentro y ayudarlo a expresar sus sentimientos para que pudiera empezar a ser feliz. A pesar de su inicial negativa, Susana insistió tanto que Roberto finalmente accedió a participar en el retiro con los miembros de la congregación.

Desde el principio, Roberto se sintió incómodo y fuera de lugar en ese ambiente espiritual. Los demás participantes del retiro, notaron su actitud y trataron de acercarse y conversar con él de la mejor manera posible, y aunque a Roberto se le hacía difícil compartir, hizo lo imposible por ser sociable y amigable con los otros asistentes.

A lo largo del retiro, las personas realizaron una serie de ejercicios guiados, tanto teóricos como de contacto físico, que desafiaban las barreras emocionales de Roberto. Uno de estos ejercicios consistía en separarse en parejas, sin importar el género, y después de compartir durante un tiempo, debían abrazarse y expresarse mutuamente lo que pensaban el uno del otro, manteniendo el respeto y la educación en la comunicación.

Estas actividades eran totalmente ajenas a la forma de pensar de Roberto, quien se sentía incómodo y fuera de su zona de confort. Sin embargo, siguió adelante con el compromiso que había adquirido con Susana. Además de que ella siempre estaba cerca y le apoyaba.

En la segunda noche del retiro, el padre instructor llevó a cabo un ejercicio de introspección que impactó profundamente a muchos de los participantes, incluido a Roberto. Las emociones afloraron en muchas personas, las lágrimas brotaron a cántaros y muchos entraron en un conflicto interno que finalmente culminó en una súplica de perdón a Dios.

Roberto fue uno de los últimos en ceder a la experiencia. Luchó y resistió, llegando incluso a acusar al cura y a los demás de ser falsos y locos. Sin embargo, después de un conflicto interno abrumador, finalmente cayó en un llanto desconsolado que parecía no tener fin. Y en ese proceso él no quería que nadie se le acercara.

Los demás participantes se preocuparon por su estado y le preguntaron al padre qué estaba sucediendo. El Padre Capuchino respondió con calma: "No se preocupen, continúen con sus actividades. Roberto está pasando por un proceso de profunda transformación. Está enfrentando su verdadera esencia y desechando todas las máscaras que solía usar para ocultar la hermosa persona que es. Está experimentando un crecimiento real, una liberación y una humildad sincera".

Fue así, como esa experiencia del retiro espiritual marcó un punto de inflexión en la vida de Roberto. A través de la introspección y la oración, pudo enfrentar sus propios demonios internos, liberar sus emociones reprimidas y descubrir una nueva conexión consigo mismo y con Dios. Esta vivencia cambió su corazón y su visión del mundo, permitiéndole finalmente abrirse a la expresión de sus sentimientos y encontrar la paz en su interior.

Muchas gracias por leerme.


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hello @osomar357 I am a little confused reading your dbuzz about this piece. You mention in dbuzz that this is a #nonfiction story based on fictional characters. That caught my attention. How does that work? Just trying to understand whether or not I am reading a made-up story ie: fiction, or whether this is a real story from your real life of something that actually happened and that you have simply changed the names of the people involved. Please could you clarify 🤗

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Hello @samsmith1971, good morning, what is reflected in the post happened a few years ago in a spiritual retreat in Caracas.
The protagonists are fictitious.
According to what I read in the rules of the post, you must post real stories, but you can use fictional characters to make them known.
That's what I understood, when I read the translations.
This generates a real story, told through fictional characters and places.

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So is the fact that a spiritual retreat happened, the factual part of the post? But you have created a fictional story with fictional characters against the backdrop of a retreat that actually exists?

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If the event happened in real life with other characters.
It is a non-fiction story.

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hi @osomar357 what I am trying to establish is if the story you told was a true story or not. I get that the spiritual retreat happened. But do you know a man who got invited to the retreat by a woman? And did the conversations happen as described? Did the events at the retreat unfold as described? Did the man have a life-changing experience as described? The way it was written, in 3rd person (almost omniscient) appears to feel like you were writing fiction as you had insight into what each of them was thinking and were privy to all the conversations. It's important to distinguish because The Ink Well has two weekly prompts: one fiction, and one creative non-fiction. The latter is a true story well told. So it is a recounting of something that actually happened but told with all the attributes of a good piece of fiction eg: good hook, character development, character and story arc, conflict, and resolution. If everything you wrote about actually happened, but you simply chose to protect the identities of those involved by giving them different names, then that is one thing. If instead, you created a fictitious story with fictitious characters and set it against the backdrop of a real retreat, then that is still a piece of fiction.

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The way in which this narrative was written made it a little challenging to work out if this was a creative non-fiction story or not. The thing that confused the issue the most was the omniscient element of your writing. It would be quite tricky to be privy to the thoughts of each of your characters if this was a true story from your life. It would also be almost impossible to know exactly what was said to the Father while the man was away in deep prayer, and also have insight into what the man was feeling. This therefore reads more like a piece of fiction.

These are a few important elements of quality fiction that can bring a story to life. You have done a very nice job with the narrative, but it would be even better if you told some of the story in action, and added dialogue so the characters speak to each other. Here are a few resources for you:

Thank you for writing in The Ink Well. We look forward to reading more of your stories.

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Greetings @theinkwell, you know I was going to put dialogues, but I preferred to do it as third person narration, because if I write as I normally do, it would have been maybe a bit long the text and I think the rules say short text.

And really, when I write about theology, spirituality and that kind of situations I tend to go on for quite a long time.

But thank you very much for the advice, I will do it differently next time.

Happy afternoon.

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