storybook life


I’ve been thinking about “stories” lately.

I named my last two posts “Curious Story” and “Wonder Story” and now this, “storybook life.”

Everyone has a story to tell.

And everyone has an interesting story.   

At work we asked people to fill out an “intake questionnaire” for a project they participated in called “Enhancing Economic Opportunities for Older Workers 50-70.”

I don’t know all the people who participated in the project, but I find myself trying to create a narrative (story) about the “typical” person who participated in the project.  I have a lot of empathy for everyone who participated in our project – they don’t have an easy life.  

In “real” life I like to arrange coffee meet-ups with friends.  We share stories.  We tell something about ourselves.   I learn something new about them every time.  With each story told, I am getting to know them.  Each of us has an evolving story.

I have online relationships with friends.  We regularly send short messages to each other on e-mail or LinkedIn.  This too is an evolving story.  With every passing message I learn a little bit more about them.  

For some people, their stories have ended.

Someone who I used to go to coffee meet-ups with disappeared from my network and no longer returns messages.  I don’t think of how our story ended, but instead think about the fun times we had at those meet-ups. 

We recently had a death in my family (aunt).  I’m not sure if I really knew my aunt, but I will remember the times we’d gather as a family for a special occasion like a birthday or Chinese New Year.  All of those occasions add up to a life-time of memories.   
      
Sometimes you don’t even need to meet a person to enjoy hearing their stories.

I subscribe to Brian Rashid’s and Whitney Johnson’s newsletters.

I look forward to seeing their e-mails in my inbox, opening their e-mails and reading their stories.

The most important story is our own story.

It’s funny that for everyone we meet, we fill in missing information and come up with a narrative for that person.  We should do the same for ourselves, reflect and understand our own personal story.  For example, what do we value, what do we stand for and how do we want to show up for people?

What is your story?

I love to hear personal stories.   


Also Published on LinkedIn on:  June 2, 2017
Image Credit:  Pixabay


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