Episode Details

Today we are speaking with Author and Public Speaker, Erin Paterson.  Erin is a Canadian author and public speaker who tested gene positive for Huntington's Disease (HD). Shortly after she started suffering from depression, then received more crushing news, she was infertile. Despite those diagnoses she was determined to have a family and live a joyful life. She is on a mission to positively impact other people's lives by writing and speaking about genetic disease, depression, and infertility. She shows that it is possible to live a meaningful life even when faced with unexpected obstacles.  She is the author of All Good Things: A Memoir About Genetic Testing, Infertility and One Woman's Relentless Search for Happiness. Erin is also the founder of Lemonade Press, a local publisher focused on empowering patient communities by helping people write and share their own journey's in specialized medical anthologies.

In this episode we discussed:

1) The journey that Erin had to go through during her HD testing, infertility experience, as well as her work to move through a deep depression.  Erin shares how at the time it was survival and stacking one small thing on top of each other to build herself to where she is today. 

2) The concept of vulnerability hangover and how it is a process of checking in every single day with what you need or what decision you need to make to move you one step closer to where you want to be. Sharing our stories can be an incredibly taxing and vulnerable process, yet it leads us to a beautiful space of seeing the gifts in our adversities.

3) Learning to share her story of testing positive for HD and infertility, allowed Erin to control the narrative, unpack her story, and allow her to support others in seeing that they are not alone in their stories of struggle.

Connect with Erin:
Website: https://www.erinpaterson.com
Publishing Company Website: http://lemonadecommunity.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinpaterson_allgoodthings
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ErinPatersonAllGoodThings
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-paterson
Email: erinpaterson@outlook.com

Erin's book is available on Amazon:

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