What’s Your Story?

For Mother’s Day I received a beautiful gift from my family. For the next year I will be receiving a weekly email from a company with a surprise question for me to respond to.

Each inspiring question asks me to reflect on some aspect of my life, my past experience, and my future ideas. At the end of the year, all of my responses will be compiled in a book for me to pass down to loved ones in years to come. 

I love this gift for three reasons. First, it encourages me to write about original topics that don’t come up in regular everyday conversation and are fun to reflect upon. Second, it gives me the opportunity to be contemplative and spend a bit of time thinking about what my story is and what is most important to me in my life. And, third, I will have a treasure trove of information to give my children one day. All three reasons connect to my love for self-development and lifelong learning. 

Why are understanding our life stories so helpful? And why is it helpful to hear other people’s stories? 

I encourage you to pause for a moment and consider when you have told your own story - to a friend, a colleague, a relative, or even a doctor. It doesn’t matter how old you are, we all have our stories that have been created up until the present. When we share ourselves through the lens of our own story, we are sharing our values, our feelings, our intentions, and our beliefs. We are expressing more than mere events. This gives us clarity, and a sense of meaning to our current and future goals. 

Similarly, hearing others’ stories offers the "why" behind their actions and beliefs. This is helpful to create deeper connections and a truer comprehension of other people's values, feelings, intentions, and beliefs. 

When I’m asked to help someone with any topic, I want to hear their story. I am curious what makes them tick and how I can serve as a mirror in reflecting back what I am hearing about themselves. I believe this clarity helps us grow in anything we aim to accomplish.