Q&A With Rachelle Atkins

Q: Rachelle welcome to Book Notions! Would you please give a brief description of Sleep Like Starfish? 

A: Sleep Like Starfish is a memoir of healing wherein the first several chapters recount many formative early experiences which support the central question of the memoir, “Can trauma and unprocessed emotions cause pain and illness within the physical body?” In this research memoir, I reference the work of many of our most well-respected authorities on the subject, such as Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD and Gabor Maté. Within these pages, I describe the many spiritual, physical and medicinal ways I have worked toward healing a nervous system that was chronically stuck in state of fight or flight by a series of traumatic experiences.

Q: How long did it take you to write Sleep Like Starfish & why was now the right time to write & publish it?

A: Essays that I wrote while I was studying writing at Queens University of Charlotte were the seedlings of this book and later became chapters. Because of that, it is a difficult question to answer, but it’s somewhere between 5-10 years. I’m grateful I didn’t publish it a day sooner because my perspective on the past, and my evolving sense of accountability and emotional maturity, made it a very different book than it would have been had it been written any sooner. 

Q: I know you had to write down some difficult parts of your life in Sleep Like Starfish. Did it almost stress you out again or was it healing and releasing writing everything down?

A: If re-living these painful seasons of my life stressed me out, it had to take a backseat to the stress of trying to complete a passion project while working full-time and managing a chronic illness. Yes, it sounds cliché, but it’s true that the process of writing the book was cathartic, a very healing experience. To reach backward in time and truly reflect on where and who I’d been and where and who I’d become was illuminating and helped me discover a strong sense of self. The book also helped me connect deeply with strangers all over the world through their reading of my story. That is an incredible gift. 

Q: What messages do you hope to resonate with readers of Sleep Like Starfish? For me what I enjoyed the most were the parts where you stressed the importance of not keeping your emotions in and that you should let them out. I can relate because for the longest time I felt as though I couldn’t cry around certain people. But crying makes us human.

A: Yes! Crying does make us human and that comes up quite a bit in SLS. I hope that people read my book and reflect on their lives, tracing back how they came to be the person they are today and gain more understanding for themselves and others in the process. It’s my hope that people begin to talk more openly about their core wounds and checkered pasts and show more compassion for others. It’s my hope that women will start to receive better healthcare and support of their bodies and that more research will be done to improve women’s medical care as we are distinctly different from men. I hope families learn to accept their shared pasts, forgive mistakes, and the wounds we inevitably inflict upon one another, and remember that we are all just doing our best. And lastly, I hope we all try to find the humor in our humanness. 

Q: Awhile back you told me that your next book might end up being a book of essays & that you’re writing about empty nesting and menopause. Are you still sticking with that book of essays or has your mind changed? 

A: Over the summer I attended a book signing for a medical intuitive and took the opportunity to ask her about what I should write next. Instead of an answer, she posed a question. 

“When was your last book published?” she asked.

“Six months ago,” I replied.

“You’re still recovering!” she said. 

That felt like permission to let what comes next evolve naturally in its own time. I’m still promoting Sleep Like Starfish all over the country and want to revel in that a bit longer. Thank you so much for having me, Bianca!