Power House on the rise!

Introducing the amazing Kaylin!

Kaylin is an exceptionally talented and gifted poet with remarkable passion and determination to make impactful strides in the world through her craft and this is very obvious in her zeal and her achievements in the world of Literature, specifically poetry speaks for itself. Her selflessness and consistent love and support for the poetry community is exactly why Kaylin is now here on the most prestigious Poetry platform in the world.

Today, we take a journey into the world of Kaylin with excerpts below chronicling her incredible story.

"My name is Kaylin Weir, and to say that I’m thrilled to be a part of this writing community would be an understatement. Writing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; storytelling will always be my favorite kind of adventure.

 Let’s start from the top: I grew up in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and when I wasn’t nose deep in Anne of Green Gables or the Boxcar Children, I was busy acting out stories with my younger brother in our own fantastical world of make-believe. When I turned nine, I joined a children’s theatre group in town, performing musicals such as Annie, Grease, and Sound of Music alongside an all-kid cast; there was nothing more exhilarating than bringing stories to life under the spotlight.  

This part of my story isn’t crucial, but it’s foundational. It was in that theatre group that I met Taylor Swift, and we became close friends at the theatre and beyond. Traveling together, making up dances to Spice Girls’ Wannabe and handmade lotions out of wildflowers picked from the yard of her New Jersey beach home. When Taylor was 11, she got her first guitar. And here’s the important part: Taylor knew in that moment something most of us don’t know until middle adulthood, if ever: her own self-concept, identity, purpose. Without a doubt, she would share her stories and talents with the world, and she would do anything it took to make her dream reality. Taylor and her family moved to Nashville, and the rest is history. At 35, aside from being a major Swiftie, I will forever be grateful to Taylor for being a guiding reminder to tune out the noise, stay focused, work hard. To stay excited about the things that light me up and to share them with the world fearlessly.  

Becoming a superstar was a dream of mine that faded with adolescence, but I went on to follow the track of the successful as I understood it: good grades, good college, good job, good life. Good, good, good, perfect. 

My husband and I met at the University of Richmond, and when he got a job in Washington, DC, post-graduation, I landed my own in health care research sales. Not my life's calling, but it felt temporary, and I was surrounded by young people like me: so driven, motivated to succeed. I climbed the corporate ladder as quickly as possible, traveling to meet with health system executives in multiple cities each week, but something inside me was dying a little each time the goal got higher and my whole being went into overdrive to overachieve. By the time I turned 27, I was headed for complete burnout. Aside from a grueling and often self-imposed 60+ hour work week, no nights or weekends off, I made it up at 5am daily to exercise, fasted. I maintained a too-small-for-me frame by carefully choosing when and what to eat. When I couldn’t find the energy, I downed an extra coffee or an energy drink or two. I averaged six hours of sleep a night, knowing it wasn’t enough but telling myself that this was the life of a successful woman.

This is the part of my story that feels defining. The moment my body yelled, ‘ENOUGH’ so loudly, I was forced to slow down, rest. As it turns out, mind over matter doesn’t work so well when our minds and bodies operate in a continuous feedback loop; there are literally thousands of impulses moving throughout our bodies, to our brains, and back, every second that we're alive. But I still wasn’t there yet, busy mind over mattering. Eventually, my husband and I wanted to start a family, but when I went off the birth control pill, I found that my menstrual cycle had gone missing. If menstrual cycles make you squeamish, let’s reframe. As a woman, I now consider mine to be a fifth vital sign. After all, beyond making human life possible, a natural cycle protects bone, heart, and neural health for a lifetime; its absence means that there is an underlying health issue worth interrogating.  

After two misdiagnoses, a third doctor suspected that I suffered from hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), which is when the hypothalamus stops communicating with the ovaries, ceasing ovulation and resulting in no period. It’s caused by a unique combination of stressors: too much exercise, too little fuel, external stress, and genetic predisposition. Although HA can occur in biologically female bodies of any size (it’s more about energy balance than weight itself), it’s not well understood or diagnosed outside of the eating disorder or professional athlete worlds. ‘There’s nothing you can do,’ this specialist said. The only way I could reverse this mind-body disconnect would be to take a year off and live among the monks in the Himalayas.

I did not go to the Himalayas to regain my fertility and health, but if you’ve stuck with me this far, here’s what I did do: grab my journal and write. Expressive writing is one of the quickest ways back to ourselves. Mind over mattering was no longer working for me; I had to drop out of my head and into my heart, my gut. I had to ask myself what I wanted out of life instead of what I thought I should want (there is a big difference!), identify where I might have gone astray, and figure out what lit me up inside. Tuning out the noise, staying focused, reconnecting with what truly mattered.

In 2018, we welcomed our first daughter to the world, and in 2021, following the Covid-19 pandemic and a pregnancy loss, we welcomed our second. In that time, I had also quit my corporate job and embraced full-time motherhood. I lost and found myself several times, but what stayed consistent for me was writing. And through writing, and therapy, I was able to continually reconnect with myself and protect my light.  

I started a writing account to share my stories and experiences on a whim in December 2022. Being a part of this community has brought so much vitality into my days. The sheer amount of talent and support for one another is uplifting and empowering.

 On my motherhood journey, I also learned that there was more of me going unused outside of mothering, and I wanted to channel that energy towards helping other people lead more fulfilling lives, to help more people find their light and share it with the world. I’m currently in my second year in a clinical mental health counseling graduate program and am so excited to help people rewrite their stories in my next chapter as a licensed professional counselor.

You can find most of my writing on @kaylinwrites on Instagram; you can also find it featured in several online literary journals, including Through Lines, The Hemlock, Glass Gates Publishing, and Discretionary Love. As a writer, I typically cover topics related to the marvelous and mundane of motherhood and everyday life, mental health, infertility and pregnancy loss (including my recovery from hypothalamic amenorrhea and perfectionism), and stories related to the human condition. Last, and foundational: I believe that our stories are meant to be shared, vulnerability is a strength, and there are few things more important in this life than being connected to ourselves and the world around us".

Kaylin's abiity as a Poet and all round creative of repute is World Class as she was personally recommended by International Bestseller Spencer, as in his exact words "Kaylin is an Incredible gift of inestimable value to the poetry community.. Her talent is truly world class and she fully deserves all the praise and recognition for being a wonderful human being and an excellent creative par excellence". 

 She will feature on her first official Collaboration with Spencer on his critically acclaimed "Collab Tour" pretty soon.

Everyone at The Poet's Digest wish Kaylin the very best in all her endeavours.

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