As a motivational speaker, I spend a lot of time talking to groups about their story. I think storytelling plays a major part in how we see the world – and how we sell ourselves to the world. Everybody has a story – and each one is as unique as the road you have walked in life – peppered with trials and tribulations. (By the way, every company has a story too – and THAT is what they should be selling instead of features and benefits.)
While it would take a long time for me to tell you everything I have experienced in my lifetime – it is not hard to give you the short version – the story of who I am. For example, I was the kid you picked on growing up. I spent my whole life trying to fit into the cool kids’ group – only to realize that what made me weird turned out to be what made me wonderful. So now I’m a motivational speaker and a comedian – encouraging you to embrace your weirdness – sharing motivation and laughter wherever I go. Okay – so maybe it’s not that short. But it’s me. It’s my story. And we all have one.
The key is knowing that we are in control of that story. No, we don’t control what happens to us. But we do control how we let that affect our story. Sometimes we take something bad that happened to us and let that become our story – let that become one major reason (excuse) why we didn’t get the life we wanted. I could have taken my “I was the bullied kid” and hung on to that like a security blanket. “Whoa is me. I never fit in. Nobody likes me. I’m just not good enough to make my dreams come true.” But I chose to not let that story be my story. I chose not to let that story define me. I chose to rewrite. Because I can. Is it still part of my story? You betcha. A big part. It made me who I am today. It describes me. But it doesn’t define me.
Do you know somebody who is hanging on to a story that needs to be rewritten? Maybe the one who blames all his failures on the fact that he never finished high school. Or the girl who is still singing that same song about the husband who left her and ruined her life.
So today I ask you: What is YOUR story? Are you letting it define you? Is it time to write a new story? What are you waiting for? Permission? You got it. Now pick up the pen and start a new story. What do you want your story to be?
“You are not the reader of your fairy tale. You are the author.” kswanson
update as of April 22, 2013…. when you’re on an elevator and meet a stranger, you have a chance to choose your story.
