I don't know about you, but I love stories. Whether the stories are completely fictional or based on real life experiences, I am pulled into a world created by words. I walk in the steps of a character, feeling their joys, pains, struggles and triumphs. I feel their apprehension when going to a new school for the first time. I feel their aching when their parents die, leaving them an orphan. I feel their pure happiness when they have accomplished their dreams. Through stories, I am able to see everything in a new light and understand more about the world around me - even if for a few moments - in a new perspective. Stories captivate. They excite. They connect people. They can spur thoughts and resolutions to change one's way of life. Stories will never lose their importance; they have been vital in history and are still relevant in this day and age.
Sometimes as I read or hear stories, I wish that I had a story to tell, something important that can inspire or cause people to think. As I look back on my life so far though, I often don't think there is anything worth telling. I haven't done anything that has changed the world. I haven't won any big, prestigious award. I haven't heroically saved anyone's life. I haven't had any big crazy experience happen to me that has turned my world upside down. Is anything even worth saying? Sometimes it feels like my experiences are just like everyone else's. Why would someone want to hear about my first day of school when they have experienced that too? Why would someone want to hear about my trip to Disney World when it sounds just like everyone else? Why would someone want to hear about my failure? Sometimes, there doesn't seem to be a lot to say about my life. There's no story to tell --- or is there?
One of my many favorite singers is Matthew West. He has many songs that I have just fallen in love with, one especially called The Story of Your Life (which I just so happen to be listening to right now). It talks about how all our lives are a story, that we have a choice in how our story is going to read and how our lives are "a story worth telling."
Through this song and some recent ponderings, I'm beginning to rethink my previous notions. Maybe my life IS a story. Maybe we all have a story to tell, despite thinking that nothing is worth telling. Each of us is here on Earth for a purpose. We all have these experiences we live through, but we experience them differently. The truth is that we are not all the same, and in that, we can all view the same event in a different way. We come into that event with different previous knowledge, feelings and experience. This can make each person experience the event in a different way - a way that some people may not realize it can be experienced as; there are many angles to one thing. Seeing something through the eyes of another, opens our view of the world and how it works. It's important to hear about the different angles so we all see the world in order to grow and to understand better.
Life stories also build a common ground and a connection between people. Our life can help bring people together or can help inspire people. Maybe our life can bring comfort or peace to another. We don't always know what other people are going through when we meet them or just talk to them. Maybe they are struggling with self image or a broken family, maybe they had a rough day at school and work or just experienced the death of a family member. We don't always know this, but if we ever tell our seemingly simple life stories about a time we struggled and made it through or even didn't make it through yet or about anything really, we have the opportunity to maybe encourage another and make them feel as if they are not alone. Stories don't always have to be about a truimph; in fact, maybe it's better if there is no grand truimph. It makes our stories real, not like a fairy tale. As a quote I once saw by Matthew Kelly read, "To be human is to be beautifully flawed," and thus any of our struggles just connects us to the commonality of each and every human person. Our little struggles of seemingly common or unimportant things can make for stories that inspire and comfort the human race.
Each day, we experience thousands of seemingly simple things. These things only seem simple though. Added together, they make up you, and you are special. You have this wonderful story that is being written right now, and stories aren't meant to be hidden; they are meant to be told! They are meant to be shared and used. In your story - the story of your life - you have power. Power? Yes, power! You have the power to make a person smile, to laugh, to cry, to be comforted, to understand, to dream, to have suspense, to be hopeful! Your story - no matter how simple or unimportant it seems - is important and wanted in this world. You do have a story to tell and it's up to you to tell it.
So, is there no story to tell of my life, of your life? No way! We all have a story that has already started to be written, is being written now and will continue to be written. It's up to us to determine what we will do with that story. We have the choice. Are we going to keep that story hidden, or are we going to tell it? I don't know about you, but I want to tell my story. I want my every day experiences to encourage, inspire and cause thought in others.
Will you tell your story?
~Emily Silverwing
