- Hypermemoir
- Posts
- Transmuting my pain into gold
Transmuting my pain into gold
I share a story about growing up without my family - and what that taught me about transmuting pain.
Chris Valdheims
July 29, 2023
Listen to this episode: “Transmuting my painful story into gold.”
“What do I do with all of this?”
That’s the question that I started to ask myself.
What do I do with all of this pain?
All of the tragedy that came before me?
All of the darkness that I lived through and somehow survived?
What do I do with all of it?
“Transmute it.”
That seemed to be the answer, so I am doing that—transmuting pain into gold.
I am highlighting the fragments of what came before in gold, kintsugi-style.
By sharing the story that I lived through and embellishing it with gold - or even turning it into gold - I hope to share some truth or meaning with you. I believe that by sharing stories, it’s possible to repair the wounds of the past and create a path for others who wish to do the same.
My story is the gold that I have to offer you. 🌟
I’ve mentioned my story several times on the podcast but never went into detail. I’ve touched upon it in conversations, but rarely have I laid the whole thing out. So it does feel a little risky.
But I am doing it anyways.
As I explain in the podcast episode, much of my story centers around being adopted when I was seven and losing all contact with my original family. That terrifying ordeal shaped me in ways that I didn’t always like.
But an amazing thing happened in 2009 when I managed to find the remnants of my family on the Internet, embedded on a site dedicated to my grandfather and his geometric abstraction.
My grandfather’s name was Zanis Waldheims, and you can read more about him if you care to. He’s an “undiscovered” artist of the 20th Century who the art world is now discovering. More on that later. 🖼️
So my adoption and disconnection from family forms one pole, and finding my grandfather forms another pole in this saga. I will talk more about him in future episodes, but for now, an introduction.
In the episode, I explain how finding out about him shifted my life and helped me begin the process of growing beyond the pain with which I started my life.
So I will stop there and let you listen.
I hope this story evokes something in you, awakens something, or gives you something valuable that helps in your life. 🔑
Listen to this episode: “Transmuting my painful story into gold.”
PS - I mean it when I say that I would love to hear from you. I want to hear your questions, insights, reactions, comments, whatever. Learning how you respond helps me to understand what to talk about in the future. 🖤