Ending the Struggle Story: Storytelling, Self-Help, and A Happier Life
How do storytelling and a happier life go together. And what is an article about it doing on a self-help blog?
We all tell stories about our lives. And our lives generally unfold in a way that matches the stories we tell.
When I first came across the story-telling and happier life connection, I immediately put it to the test. And I was amazed (or maybe flabberghasted — such a great word, and not enough occasions to use it).
You see, I’ve been telling the story of struggle. I was struggling as a kid, trying to get pocket money, trying to make it in school, trying to get the attention of our parents, trying to please them, trying this, trying that. And I struggled making it through college, and graduate school, and getting a job, and then on the job, and with my finances, and on and on and on and on. My life felt like a never-ending struggle.
And then, I looked at my life from a different perspective. In fact, all I had to do is ask others what they thought about the way my life had been unfolding.
That story was very different. It was a life filled with excitement, achievement, friends, adventure, lots of learning. What seemed a struggle from one perspective was the impetus that made me go out and meet the most fascinating people as I worked at making money to support my habit of acquiring degrees. Just as an example.
And when I look around me, in moments of utter despair, when I think I’m now done in at long last (like thousands of times before), and realize I live in my dream apartment, in a city I really enjoy, with food in the fridge, clothes to wear (okay, so I could use some new ones), a really comfortable bed, and, well, thousands of books on the shelves, which explains where the money went…
Struggle? Maybe. If I insist. But really, there are other possible stories, and I’m tired of the struggle story and am reframing my life as a success story, and things are coming along. Not always as quickly as I’d like, but with some faith and persistence, and especially resourcefulness that has served me so well over the years, it’s starting to move into the direction I’ve hardly dared to envision.
So try to write down your story. Tell it to others, and get their point of view. You may be amazed. And so storytelling definitely belongs in a self-help blog, and it can be precisely what propels you into a happier life, as you drop the struggle story and start telling your story of success and happiness.
And by the way, what inspired this particular entry was a blog post on profitable storytelling that I came across (in a round-about way) through Twitter:
