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Insights, tools, and tales from one writer’s adventures in storytelling. Helping you understand, craft and share your unique brand, business, or personal story with impact.

#137 – One Skill That Can Change Your Story Instantly

My strange and twisted path to acceptance

Chantaie

Jun 13, 2023

This is Adventures in Storytelling your weekly note with resources, insights, and actionable tools for better communication through storytelling. Enjoy.

It’s raining in Toronto today. A cold and persistent shower. The skyline is grey and misted over. The type of day I used to dread when I spent winter here and longed for sunshine and warmth in spring.

Today I find myself grateful for the renewal the water brings and the cocoon of peace that comes with the constant quick drops as they fall. It’s cozy in Toronto today, a typical spring day with rain that forces us to slow down just a little. It offers time to pause and reflect on the year so far and on what’s to come. So I guess, really, it’s a day that offers the opportunity to reflect in Toronto today, the grey and greens of the world opening space for consideration of possibility.

Which may be why I’m feeling introspective. Why today I see life as a strange, beautiful, and twisting story. I’ve dealt with a lot of upheaval in the past few weeks. But in some twist of fate and luck, my time in Mexico City, and even my time during the pandemic (once the panic had abated) prepared me for it. Because between today and February 2020 I have learned the beautiful art of acceptance. (For the record I also have a very good therapist, without whom none of this would be possible).

I describe myself as a recovering perfectionist. I used to need control—for things to be just so—and would lose my ever-loving shit (at least quietly on the inside) when things were out of place or not at my standard in work and life. But as I have learned to accept things and people and my experience as it is, to lean into the words of the serenity prayer, I have found it easier to embrace my world, my story and to learn from it all.

Not in the moment, in the moment it’s hard because I’m human. But as I accept what is in any given instant and move forward and act from that place rather than from a place of how I want things to be, I find I move through with greater ease and in some ways recover a bit faster. I’m no longer devastated by the imperfection of life. AND in small tiny ways that I hope will only grow, I have begun to see the beauty in the imperfections. The magic in the moments that are hard and what is born of them.

(I ignore the God part, but you do what feels right for your understanding of the world)

So even as I struggle with the challenges that life sends my way, my ability to accept has made the struggle just a tiny bit more beautiful and I am better able to endure and learn and move through it.

So as your story continues to unfold, I encourage you to think about the things you cannot change and how you might accept them, what are the things you need courage to act upon or against to change, and what is the line that separates those two things for you. What are some of the things you can accept in your story today and what might shift when you do? I’d love for you to share in the comments below or reply to this note if I’ve landed in your inbox and share just with me.

Wishing you the serenity that comes with accepting your story as it is and the courage to move forward from that place.

A Story Well Told

A beautiful story of a life lived and lessons learned through challenges from the Guardian Instagram page over the weekend.

The Guardian US

The Guardian US on Instagram: ”‘I reclaimed what I had’ Dr Gladys McGarey thought she would never recover when her husband and work partner walked out after 46 years. Then she found her voice, happiness and her own direction, as well as a boundless new energy. At 100, she delivered a TedX Talk on holistic medicine, and has just published a book offering guidance for a well-lived life. On relationships, she says she’s much happier living as a single woman. “People would ask if I was dating,” she says, “and I would say: ‘Why would I want to take care of another old man? No thank you.’” Swipe to find out more, and follow the link in bio to read her full story.”

June 11, 2023

ALSO an invitation from me to you. A chance to dive into how your story, shared well, can change your life. Specifically your career and business story. I’m hosting a storytelling webinar next week (I’m going to try to make them quarterly and build on each of them, so you get something new each time you join). There is a small investment to join $25, but I promise it’ll be more than worth that in insight and new actionable storytelling knowledge you can use as you build the career or business of your dreams. Learn more (and sign up) here.

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