I know the power of a good story. Some people are really good storytellers and then there are some who drag a story out until you are begging them inside your head to hurry up already get to the point.
I didn’t want to be that storyteller.
I have never really given my story much credit. I don’t share a lot of about me because I have always said, “People don’t want to know that stuff.”
I am sure you have said the same thing.
Stories can be very healing. They can also be very powerful for someone else who can relate to your story that there is a light at the end of the struggle. Resilience is strengthened by recognizing that we are all experts in our own lives and we all have something to share with others.
Up to the point of this blog post, I have not shared my story well. Some of it I wanted to forget and not talking about it made it go away. The wisdom of growth could also be someone else’s rope to pull them out of a situation or give them the courage to do what they need to do.
Words can have power—positive power—on others. Not just a story but the power of the words you speak. This is an under-appreciated benefit of narrative and storytelling. This is something I want to get better doing.
Finding your voice
Another benefit of storytelling is finding your own voice. What does finding your voice mean?
Learning how to express yourself and learning how to think about what has happened in your life in a way that makes sense. Instead of looking at the bad in the story look at what it taught you and what moved you forward in time you didn’t think had a happy ending.
Writing your story (like this blog) or telling someone who can help you organize your story and find the key events that were a turning point. Getting someone to help you tell your own story to remember the details in a way that makes you the author of your own life.
Realizing that sharing your story can help others
I was interviewed by Ken Walls and he knows how to ask questions that pull things out of you that you don’t normally talk about (watch the video).
I don’t post deep personal things on social media. I share a lot but I don’t go back in my history and tell the story of how I because of the Angela Brooks I am today.
It was not pretty, easy or anything close to what I have around me in my life today. One of the questions that Ken ask was “Had someone told you about network marketing when you were new in nursing or even 10yrs in would you have listened.”
My reply was no.
I understand why people say no. I was like so many others that were cuffed with the golden handcuffs looking at the benefits I had at my job over the freedom I was missing.
Most jobs don’t offer paid sick days, paid vacation days, health insurance. When I went out looking for a job I quickly found that out and retracted to where I was comfortable even though I was not happy.
It made me angry, and not a little frustrated but angry to have to ask for time off and be denied for my boys birthdays, to go to family funerals (Yes I was denied time off for funerals), to attend weddings, or be off for Christmas and Thanksgiving.
One event that popped into my mind was a day I was denied off due to low staffing and I had 50 people coming to my house the next day for a birthday party. I wanted to have off the night before to get some rest so I could enjoy the party.
It didn’t turn out that way. I was denied. What made it worse was we had more staffing on the units that night than we normally did. After being at work for 13-hour night shift. I got home and began prepping for people to arrive at my house. Not only did the 8 boys we invited come but their siblings and both parents. A total of 50 people. I didn’t get in bed until 8 PM that night.
I was exhausted, moody, and it took the whole weekend I was off to recover.
Benefits to Sharing Your Story
There are benefits of sharing bits and pieces of your story. #1 it helps you see how far you have come #2 it helps someone see who you are and that you didn’t start from the place you are today.
Stories can be touchy. I totally understand that. They bring up emotions that can still trigger you, make you feel some of the same emotions as when the event happened.
Your story is still being written. The final chapter hasn’t been written. I often talk about my past in 3rd party when I talk about “back then” or that girl (meaning me). I am not the same person. That is what I keep in my mind when I share small bits about me, which I plan to do more often.
The people I had around me ‘back then’ seem to be stuck in the same-ness. The twilight zone as I refer to it, doing the very same thing they have always done. Drinking the same beer, going to the same places on Friday night.
I broke through the zone, I took off the golden handcuffs, I met new people, I have done things I didn’t know how to do or even knew I wanted to do them.
If you are open to change, doing something new and getting out of the rut you are swimming in. Message me. Tell me a little about you and how I can help you. I have two options and either way you will have to do something new. The good thing is you get to choose.