I Taught The Workshop But Storytelling Schooled Me

So you know how in my last blog, I told you that it was time to conquer my fears and get to teachin'? 

Well, I followed through and it was incredible how it all came together. I created, taught, and completed a workshop to six amazing humans and it didn't turn out at all like I planned—in the best way possible.  

Here's the truth, I thought I was teaching a workshop on hard story skills (how to put a story together). But it turns out I was teaching a course on self-acceptance, revelation, and re-evaluation. 

Most (but not all) of my students in this course were ex-pat spouses, people who get to live an amazing life abroad but also experience constant career change, intense self-doubt, and identity crisis. Some of them were there to tell their story for their businesses and some were there to explore their stories for themselves. 

There is no getting around it. When we tell our stories. Things get personal. They can bring up old baggage. I was blown away by their deep vulnerability and the work they did to acknowledge that who they are now is enough. They rode some intense waves of self-doubt, struggled with their inner critic, and duked it out with old trauma that decided to drop in for a visit. I should have known that we simply can't dive into our stories without getting emotionally involved. We are just humans after all. 

This is the power of storytelling. It forces us to get real about how we feel about the things that have happened to us. But the most powerful thing that I taught these women is that we all have the power to re-edit and revise our stories. In fact, people who have the exact same experiences often interpret those experiences in very different ways. And people who use stories to transform their experiences (even negative ones) into positive aspects or lessons learned in their lives are happier and more fulfilled. If you want to know more, be sure to sign up for my free storytelling training by joining my newsletter at the bottom of my homepage.

This was so much more than teaching a formula. It was a beautiful experience that left me in awe of our strength as humans and our ability to compost our emotions and experiences into incredibly empowering stories. Here's a little exercise for you....is there a story that you are telling yourself that's holding you back? Can you rewrite it in a way that serves you? That's the only way to change our lives.