Self-awareness
Your Story Really is Unique: Here is How to Write It
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You do have a powerful story. You might not think so yet, but you do. Recently, I wrote a Medium article on how I discovered the power of my own story. Until I went through the process myself, I thought the story of my life was very average. In my eyes, my life was ordinary, not anything extraordinary. But ordinary to one person is interesting and complicated and challenging and inspiring to another person. And the world needs your stories. You are the inspiration to someone else. The world needs you to learn how to tell your story.
You need your story too. We haven’t all explored our own stories, at least not in great depth. But when you know your story, you gain a self-awareness that can lead to healing, authenticity, and a voice.
So what do you do if you don’t feel like you have a powerful story of your own? And let’s face it, in the grind of life, everyone has seasons when life loses its luster. No one is exempt from facing moments of discontent where the world around us looks boring and uninteresting. We each have days when we get tired of the status quo — whether the status quo be our home, our job, our marriage, or our neighborhood. But all of these are details in a much larger frame. Without the bigger picture, the whole of the story gets lost. Your story doesn’t need to be big to be powerful. Quiet stories of triumph proclaim possibility. Self-reflective stories hold lessons. Unselfish stories hold wisdom.
When you don’t know how the threads in your life weave a cohesive narrative, you explore your past, present, history and goals. Here are the questions to begin your exploration.
What were your external circumstances over which you had no control? Your circumstances are part of your story. External circumstances are often far beyond your control and include your location of birth, your ethnic background, the religious culture you were born into, and your socioeconomic status. Your circumstances also include the granular aspects that may…