Daily Step – Your story has value.

This poem struck me yesterday when I was finishing up a presentation for tonight. 

I tend to be an all cards on the table, what you see is what you get kind of presenter.

I can not help but weave my story into my message because I don’t have a message without it.

My story led me to my message, and it continues to help me refine my message with every new chapter.

I aim to tell it all simply. 

I aim to invite those listening in so that they may find some connection to their own experience and, though the specific details may not, the overall message will resonate.

Telling any part of one’s story always comes with a bit of trepidation though, doesn’t it?

I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I find myself telling my story… I think “no one understands this… no one is going to relate” or “Does anyone really want or need to hear this today?”

I find myself thinking: “It’s my story and no one else walks through it like I do. No one has this particular combination of traits and experiences and interactions that guide how my story goes.”

And this wondering all leads me to the question – “so why should I tell it?”

Once again, Mary Oliver has the words. She wrote her own story so simply and unapologetically because that it what drew people to her words.

Her determination to show up as she was helped people find words to tell their own stories.

“so that by the end
you will think—
no, you will realize—
that it was all the while
yourself arranging the words…”

Stories are important. 

Your story.

Mine.

Hearing or reading through another person’s story helps people write and tell their own.

There is a simple yet profound beauty to showing up as you are.

All this to say, I hope my words and my story come across your feed when you need them the most. I hope they help you find words for your own story.

And I hope you are never ashamed to honor your story (the beauty and the struggle) by sharing it with others.

“you will think—
no, you will realize—a
that it was all the while
yourself arranging the words,
that it was all the time
words that you yourself,
out of your heart
had been saying.”