New Farm author Katie Delimon, who captured readers with her raw and vulnerable memoir, is planning to release a follow-up book exploring family secrets and identity.
“I think that was always my goal to help people feel less alone, to feel more human, to feel like their own experience is nothing to be ashamed of,” she said.
Courageously putting her shame and untold family past on paper, Trust the Flames: My Wild Ride from Mindlessness to Mindfulness quickly made its way to number six on Amazon’s Hot New Memoirs list.
Ms Delimon began writing her second memoir after uncovering a long-hidden truth about her family through a DNA test.
After taking four years to write the first memoir, Ms Delimon said the process of putting the book together helped her heal from her unstable and difficult past.
“I didn’t do it quickly. And I didn’t do it irrationally. I did it very intentionally, very mindfully,” she said.
Ms Delimon had what she described as a “colourful” relationship with her mother.
She said her mother’s affairs and the conflict between her parents created a difficult family environment that shaped much of her childhood.
Following her mother’s death from ovarian cancer, Ms Delimon began her long journey to mindfulness at just 26 years old.
“I have so much more compassion not only for the little me who was angry and resentful, but also for my mum for what she was going through internally as well,” she said.
Ms Delimon said she transformed her life by focusing on nervous system regulation through yoga, meditation and mindfulness.
“Yoga really helped me find a better relationship with my body, and mindfulness and meditation helped me build a better relationship with my connection from my mind to my body,” she said.
She now shares those practices through coaching programs, corporate talks and yoga sessions that focus on managing anxiety and improving emotional wellbeing.
Ms Delimon has always had a love for speaking up.
Since she was young, she has found herself only reading autobiographies, specifically about authors who had a rough childhood like herself.
“I realized very young the power of sharing stories,” she said.
Since then, her goals have turned into reality, and she gets “tons and tons” of messages from other women who have struggled with similar family situations.
“I was writing it to… definitely help me and process what was happening, but also to help other people feel less alone.”
Her favourite message was from a psychologist in Malaysia who had dealt with similar family issues and wrote to her: “I’ve never felt more seen and validated.”
For more about Ms Delimon visit: katiedelimon.com.
