Meet Francisca Harrison | Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Francisca Harrison and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Francisca, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
I tried so hard to choose between these two quotes. It was an impossible task. Lol, both quotes are from the late great Jim Henson. The first one is:

“Watch out for each other. Love everyone and forgive everyone, including yourself. Forgive your anger. Forgive your guilt. Your shame. Your sadness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth, and most especially your heart.”

The second one is:

“Life’s like a movie; write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending. We’ve done just what we set out to do. Thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you.”

The first quote I like to refer to as “Life 101.” Jim Henson eloquently lays out some essential principles for creating your best life. The second quote does the same. It reminds us that we always have the power to edit and rewrite our destiny. The quote also comes from “The Muppet Movie.” To this day, it is one of my all-time favorite films. Jim Henson is a legend. The Muppets have brought nothing but pure magic into my life since the age of five.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The last time I was featured in Voyage Dallas was in 2020. We all have our stories about 2020. I chose to write about my story in-depth in that feature. It was a very long and very telling piece. It was a challenging time in my life. I was newly divorced. The pandemic had re-directed my career as a makeup artist. My then-employer had furloughed me. I was left to take on odd jobs to make the bills. Life was just plain messy, and I felt incredibly lost.

One day, I woke up just feeling completely overwhelmed. I did not know how to channel all my thoughts and emotions. Something prompted me to pick up a pen and start writing it all out. Since I was not editing any of it, it felt like I was journaling. This is an excellent reminder that this is the best way to write. I began writing a story about who I was and where I came from. It was not an easy thing to do, but I would later understand that it was necessary. Instead of Voyage Dallas getting an interview piece on my work as a makeup artist. They received something entirely different—a tell-all story.

I was nervous about how what I had written would be received. I feared it could be met with a large amount of scrutiny. After all, I shared some pretty dark moments in my life. Topics that many of us have been taught should never be discussed. I knew it was a crapshoot on how all this would land with my family, friends, colleagues, and strangers. However, despite it all, I felt compelled to do it anyway. It felt like an unavoidable purge. Oddly enough, I would later refer to that particular piece of work as “My Purge Piece.”

Now, if doing this had the potential to take me down like The Titanic. I had one goal I hoped to accomplish in the process. If I told my story, it somehow managed to help at least one person. I would have manifested a way to take all that pain I had carried around my entire life and transform that into something healing for myself and others. That meant everything! As soon as that article went live. I had people messaging me on social media. They were thanking me for sharing my story. Someone sent me a message that said, “Thank you for saying everything I have always been too afraid to say.” I had a young girl who shared her struggle with bipolar and how it had led her to attempt to take her own life. She said that my story inspired her to keep going and showed her the importance of believing in yourself.

At that moment, I understood why I had experienced all that I had. I was meant to go through some really messed up stuff—the sort of stuff that makes you question your very existence. It requires you to scrape yourself off the floor, lift yourself up, assess the wreckage around you, and bulldoze that shit to the ground. You have a new foundation to build. While rebuilding mine, I discovered the importance of my voice, which brings us to where I am today.

Last year, I began writing a blog. I titled it ”The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes.” A character in the lyrical masterpiece “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” by The Beatles. I found it to be incredibly fitting. One, because I am a music nerd and I love the Beatles. When visiting my blog, you will quickly discover my love and connection to music. I have paired each of my blogs with a song that I feel matches the story’s vibe. Cheesy? Possibly, but so very me.

Two, as a woman who was a child in the 70’s and 80’s. I played with a lot of kaleidoscopes.
When looking through them, you quickly learn the art of perception. Our experiences in this world are a lot like kaleidoscopes. They are based on how we perceive things. Our perceptions are constantly shifting and changing. What one person may be seeing and experiencing may look and feel entirely different to someone else. This blog is about life as seen through the eyes of a Gen X woman. (With plenty of Gen X references included.)

My blog is my happy place. It is a place where I have the opportunity to express myself through the art of storytelling. It is also a space where I get to grow as a writer. Yes, more often than not, we grow into the spaces we hope to be in. Which, if we allow it, can teach us the art of patience. My blog is also where I am building a community of “Freaks and Geeks.” If you are someone who has ever been labeled as one or the other or both. You are my kind of people.

I am also currently working on a manuscript for a publishing company here in Dallas; this has been a slow rollout process for me. I have been figuring out what I want my message to the world to be. Yes, I am a person who has experienced a lot of trauma in my life, and that trauma had me stuck in a space where I constantly underestimated my worth. Thankfully, that is no longer the case. I have grown out of that space.

One of the most rewarding things about therapy and doing that oh-so-important work on ourselves is having the opportunity to reinvent who we are. The parts of us that we often feel we have lost somewhere along the way. They begin to resurface and make their way up from the emotional rubble they had been buried under for such a long time. Before you know it, those once-dark thoughts are blurred out by that fractal of light that has made its way into your headspace, shifting those old thought patterns and perceptions like a kaleidoscope. Do you see what I did there?

I have been on such an incredible journey. One that I am truly grateful for and hope to continue sharing with as many people as I can. Bad things happen. That is just a reality in life. But those bad things do not have to be what defines us. Instead, they can be the things that catapult us into bigger and better spaces.
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My blog, as well as my book, is about the journey. The crazy good and not-so-good, strange, wonderful, disheartening, challenging, hilarious, mystical amazement that is life. Because, after all, it is about the journey, not the destination. It is about the places you visit and the people you meet along the way—the experiences, the lessons, and the memories we create that we carry with us.

I will also be launching my podcast in the latter part of February 2025, which will be available on Patreon. You can find the link here. I will now leave you with some profound words from Ferris Bueller. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The Dallas Museum of Art would be my first recommendation. I try to visit a new art museum whenever I travel. I would also suggest the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. What can I tell you? I dig museums. The Dallas Arboretum is a great place to visit when you are feeling the need to be one with nature. If you are looking for a place with an artsy vibe with great restaurants, music, and shops. I would definitely make your way to Deep Ellum.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate this to Dee.

“Remember who made the hardest chapters of your life feel lighter just by being there. Those are your people.”
– Case Kenny.

Website: https://www.thegirlwithkaleidoscopeyes.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistrybyfrancisca/profilecard/?igsh=MTNuZXMyeGMxdXZ5eg==

Other: https://linktr.ee/francisca_harrison

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