Yes you do! You have a story to tell – the one that captures the spirit and essence of your life lived to this point.
OK, I heard that response – have heard it from others as well. Your story IS important and it DOES matter. You just have not given the telling of it a priority in your life. What? You think you will have more time later? Really?
As you know if you have followed my blog for a while, it is my goal to help people “save lives” one photobook Life-Story at a time. Preferably starting with their own Life-Story.
But let me lay a bit of a guilt trip on you here. Of course, I am speaking to me as much as to you, so don’t take personal umbrage, ok?
In my devotion a few days ago, I came across this which really hit home for me:
“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God…..” and it goes on to recount the giving of the Ten Commandments. (Deuteronomy 4:9)
How much have your eyes seen? …your heart stored up? …your memory savored? …your mind pulled together into a philosophy or lesson?
It starts coming home for me when I have a conversation with friends close to my age and we “reminisce” about growing up without a phone in our house, or the High School rules about the required length of skirts (no pants worn to school), or relishing getting to sit on the quilt on top of the ice cream maker to hold it still while strong arms cranked it to perfect consistency (and then getting to eat luscious homemade ice cream) – yeah, yeah, you know all those stories that were shaping your life over the years.
And more…tougher stories, not-so-easy times. What really made you decide to go in one direction rather than the other road?
You think you have told your kids or your relatives some stories, but have you really answered some of the big questions about life directions and lessons for yourself, much less shared them? And if you ask your kids or relatives what they remember of your stories – do they remember? And how close is it to the original?
Why am I on this rant? I will get to the point. I released my online course titled “Create Your Life-story in 3 Easy Steps Without the Overwhelm” to the first set of students in January of this year. I learned a lot over the six weeks of delivering the content – and was very proud of my husband (a stellar student) who did finish his Life-Story photobook – yep, printed and in hand.
Tweaking and revising the course followed. I found that Step One was the hardest one for people to really complete – and yet it was crucial to be done first. It was creating the Film Director’s SCRIPT which became the essential guide – the framework that had to be in place in order to go forward.
But so many were seduced by wanting to go find the photos and write the stories – that seemed a lot more fun. And overwhelm started knocking at their door. It stopped their progress, or even finishing.
So I have made it easier. I turned that FIRST STEP into a one-hour workshop structure that creates the Script in a workalong style. I walk folks through, step-by-step, capturing the essence and spirit of their Life-Story. And I help them realize it’s like a 1.5 or 2 hour movie. NOT a documentary that drones on for 10 hours.
Come to think of it – do you know what your Script would look like? Do you want to “dip your toe in the water” and just check it out? See if you can really do a Life-Story?
The one-hour Workshop is set for a few days from now (and there is a replay for the following 48 hours if you are not available). If you do nothing more than just go through the workshop, you will have put together a valuable outline of your Life-Story Script. It will help you test whether this is something you want or can do.
It has been demonstrated that, as a species, we have an everlasting need to tell and be told stories. I love Lisa Cron’s quote in Wired for Story, “Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution – more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to.”
And that’s my point – made especially for those ‘oh-so-many’ of you who, when facing the capturing of their Life-Story in a photobook, say “no one cares about my story” or something similar.
After describing the writing of her story, she wrote this…..”Those words carved and shaped an identity and belonging I didn’t know was mine to claim. My story was both harder and better than I knew. Yours will be the same…. Once you start, such clarity, discovery, and consolations will come to you that you will not want to stop. You’ll realize that pursuing your story is also a pursuit of meaning in this wearisome life. Which means it’s also a search for magic, for divine surprise, perhaps even a glimpse of God.”
She says eloquently what one of the original testers of my course (she completed her Life-Story and another’s also) echoed when she shared this comment: “The Life Story really opened my eyes to so much understanding of my current life and values….I also saw God’s love for me as I grew up, how he blessed me, protected me, and grew me. Words cannot describe, but photos often do….”
I can point you back to a few of my blogs with more poignant details (see below), but I will leave you with the most poignant description I have ever heard of why your story matters. This is from Delilah (author of One Heart at a Time) who is a radio sensation with over 8 million listeners, and I was privileged to hear her live on-stage in Denver in the last year. Her description of herself is that she lives life as fully as she can and has had great sorrow – she paints pictures verbally. And she told stories that captured everyone in the room.
Here are Delilah’s words:
Have you ever considered that the hurts in your past are meant for something greater than you? God hurts with you. He didn’t, nor doesn’t, want bad things to happen to you. But here’s the really interesting fact: God can redeem anything, and anyone at anytime. Your pain and suffering of the past can be healed, and not only that, it can be used to heal others. Have you ever stopped to consider how someone else may need your story? That’s exactly the point of this book, in case you forgot. Changing the world one heart, one story at a time. That means you telling your story of redemption and offering hope to the next person going through some tough stuff.
We all have a story – our life events and lessons learned. Sharing it not only grows yourself but enriches and inspires others — and that includes your family, friends and generations to come.
If you have ever thought about preserving your life-story, or the life-story of a loved one, the worst thing you can do now is to do nothing.
You need a plan. You need tools. You need guidance. You can take the First Step of creating the Script in this workshop– to just check it out for yourself, click HERE
P.S. Here are some of the other blogs I referenced
