Story Telling

 

Storytelling is important. We all have a story… we all have many stories.  Some stories absolutely must be told. Some stories are the kind that we want to keep hidden, buried deep down inside. I think those are the stories that most need telling. 

If you believe that we are all connected, as I do, sharing stories is how we learn about others... how we find the common thread that we can hold onto that allows us to find empathy for and understanding of that other person. For much of human existence, verbally passing stories down from generation to generation was the only way of preserving history. While no two people experience the same event in the same way, and I don't know what it's like to live as anything other than a white, heterosexual woman, emotions are universal. When someone says, "I'm angry," we know what anger feels like in our bodies. The same way we know fear or love. We can relate. Telling our stories helps others understand us through the emotions our stories evoke. 

I have been reading Becoming by Michelle Obama and it's really making me think about so many different aspects of myself. If you haven't read it, it's really great. I can identify with her need for a solid home life and her desire to avoid the political arena. 

 I'm finding myself smiling while reading about how the larger-than-life former President is really just a normal, messy, human like the rest of us.  I can identify with his "head in the clouds" modus operandi, having spent much of my life in my own head thinking about all sorts of things. Though I'm more grounded now than I've been at any other point in my life, I still spend a lot of time in the clouds.  

Through reading Obama's story, I realized that this blog is a new type of writing for me. While my head might live in the clouds, my work has always been firmly planted down here on earth. I honed my skills under several excellent writers, one of which drummed the Strunk & White quote (pictured above) so deeply into my head, I hear it in my sleep sometimes. M taught me how to write an A+ report, which led to specificity when crafting legal briefs and arguments. After E took me under his wing, I learned to draft minutes that were short, to the point, and contained just enough detail to capture the essence of a discussion without revealing too much else. From there, I moved on to telling the story of organizations within the confines of the (frustratingly) low word and (horrifyingly low) character counts funders often demand. All of this comes back to Becoming.

Obama's writing is beautifully descriptive and engaging. I found myself thinking, "I wish I could write like this!" Then I thought, "Maybe I can!" I don't know... I've never had the space or given myself permission to try.  In this medium, I can use all of the words I want.  I don't "have" to be concise. I can have fun and tell the stories I want to tell... of course, they all escape me now because I "can" tell them! 

Thank you for joining me on this journey of exploration and for being patient with me as I stumble through learning how to tell my stories in a new way... as I figure out which stories must be told. While you may not understand what it's like to live with EDS (I am SO happy that you don't!), I hope to convey enough emotion that you can relate to my experience in a way that is meaningful for you!