Tip of the Tongue Project - 2025

Tip of the Tongue Project - 2025

I have an idea.

Off the top of your head, can you think of someone in your life, past or present, who’ve you’ve wanted to say something to for a long time, but you never did?

This could be a thank you, a screw you, an I love you… anything. Anyone?

Well, I have a few. Each a different reason and each a different story. But yes, I certainly have some things I’ve been wanting to say that have been resting on the tip of my tongue for quite a while.

Sometimes it takes a thousand thoughtful and carefully worded messages that are edited by your friends and saved in your notes app to be sent to that one person, before you realize that some things are better left unsent. Not unsaid! Just unsent.

It took me nearly 25 years to finally realize that closure (the gift, the myth, the legend) is not something someone else can provide you with, it is simply a choice. It is a choice you make for yourself that starts with acceptance and ends with a personal decision to move forward, even with open wounds. Many and most times, this decision comes with the knowledge that you may never tell off the person who wronged you, or get one last conversation with the one that got away. Instead, you look straight ahead and give yourself a chance to find beauty and happiness in new people and experiences. It means trusting that whatever is meant for you in this world will not miss you, but if it can’t find you because you’ve stayed too late in a place you were never meant to be, well my friend, that’s on you. We all have a choice.

If you’re a Libra like me, this gift of closure you bestow upon yourself also comes with the hope that karma might restore the balance you felt was disturbed, evening the scales once again. Please don’t misunderstand, I don’t say this with malice. This simply means that overtime, we might, oh I don’t know, be rewarded with a healthy and loving relationship after finally deciding to walk away from a toxic one — a gut-wrenchingly hard choice, but a good and necessary one. Maybe, through choosing new experiences instead of dwelling on old ones, we may learn how to better treat others and ourselves. And just maybe, after months have passed and you realize you’re in a whole new chapter of your life, you’ll look down and realize those wounds have finally started to heal.

Anyway, I’ve gone on and on, haven’t I? All of this to say, as aforementioned, I have an idea.

I know I just lectured you on the importance of choosing closure for yourself, and I stand by that, but that doesn’t mean your phone or journal should be the only ones to read those iconic last words…

Therefore, I present the Tip of the Tongue Project: an online forum where people can post unsaid final farewells, leave thank you letters and well wishes, classy screw-yous, reflections and even soul-searching introspections that unburden them even just a little bit.

It will be a community. A community of feeling people that pay tribute to those feelings by anonymously posting something that has been on the tip of their tongue for far too long. Let it off, and let it go.

How? Post a picture. Maybe two, even three. Fine by me!

On one of those pictures, you will have the option to attach a tiny notes icon, where you can type up whatever you wish to say and pin it to them. You can make this a formal letter, or you can simply make it a one sentence statement addressed to a vague “old friend.” Your choice entirely. Once finished, you can make the icon as visible as you’d like, or you can make it so tiny that viewers will have to go on a hunt to find it. But, you must write something! When someone visits your post and finds the notes icon, they will click it and it will flip over, revealing your written submission.

Your picture/pictures will tell a story, as will your submission, and I for one will be honoured to read it. And I hope that maybe in joining The Tip of the Tongue community that you may feel a sense of peace, release and even read another submission that inspires you in some way.

Can you make more than one submission? Absolutely.

My one request, please respect the anonymity of whomever you’re addressing for their own safety and post photos and written submissions that do not reveal any identities besides your own, if you so choose. There will also be community guidelines to adhere to as to ensure a safe space, some of which will prohibit racism, hate speech and derogatory or sexist language.

The only other requirement for posting will be a $1 donation to be donated to a different mental heath organization at the end of every month.

My hope for the future — maybe there will be so many submissions that a Tip of the Tongue meet-up could be possible?! Perhaps, if members are open to making an additional donation, funds could be collected to book a space where community members could gather, meet each other, share stories, listen to public speakers and more! Anything is possible, right?

And yes!!! Websites such as Vocal could absolutely become part of this journey and sponsor the community. Perhaps there’s a Vocal chapter! Perhaps Vocal creates a Tip of the Tongue Project community for a month of the year, drawing more people to Vocal’s incredible platform and inspiring them to join this wonderful body of writers. Maybe for every person that becomes a vocal+ member in the time that the Tip of the Tongue Project community is available, they can also donate a fraction to the mental health organization chosen for that month. Maybe Vocal posts a challenge specifically for the Tip of the Tongue project?! Who knows! The opportunities are endless!

And sure — maybe somewhere out there, a similar concept exists, but can we ever have too many platforms made for people to share the human experience and connect with one another?

And hey, maybe one day we honour the first 1000 submissions by publishing the first written volume of the Tip of the Tongue Project. Now, someone who was simply sharing their 19-year-old frustrations is a published writer. Was that on your bingo card?

I’ve had this idea since I was 21. Now, it’s off the tip of my tongue and hopefully in a couple months time, it will be real and ready for submissions.

I sincerely hope anyone reading this enjoys the idea and would consider being among one of the first submissions. Thank you.

Happy new year everyone!