#95: Improving Yourself and Finding Self-Confidence: Bareleveling

Tonight's prompt is from a new source: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig. We discuss all things related to the prompt, which is: bareleveling v. intr. trying to improve yourself without anyone else knowing about it, afraid that they'll think it's silly or grandiose or unnecessary, or that they'll end up calling too much attention to your efforts, transforming a casual tweak into a flashy rebranding campaign. Armenian punt (barelavvel), to become better. Pronounced "bair-lev-uhl-ing." Stories begin around the 16:40 mark and include life as a bookseller; a character having a conversation; a journey; and a poem about vulnerability. Like this weeks episode and wish you could read as well as listen? Subscribe to our Substack for a summary of our opening discussion, a story from the episode, and a writing prompt!  Be sure to follow us on Instagram (if that's your sort of thing). Please do send us an email with your story if you write along, which we hope you will do. Episodes of Radio FreeWrite are protected by a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) license. All Stories remain the property of their respective authors.