3 Sentence Story

I was reading a blog today called “Why You Must Become an Expert at Telling Your Story.” Jeff Goins writes:

Telling your story helps you make sense of your life — why certain events happened the way they did. You begin to examine what has happened to and through you. You begin to make sense of who you are.

Telling your story can be incredibly therapeutic, and the practice often leads to greater confidence and understanding of self.

Most people don’t take the time to do this. They take their stories for granted; they don’t steward them.

Take the time to learn your story. We need it. And we need you to tell it.

If we’re going to be changed by it, you need to tell your story well.

So, how about a little exercise?

In three sentences or less, what’s your story? Make sure it has a hook, conflict, and a reflection. Ready? Leave a comment below to share your story, and/or tweet out it out using the hash tag #mystoryis.

3 Reasons Why You Must Become an Expert at Telling Your Own Story

Okay, so here goes — a three sentence story.

A small town farm girl who values deep community, I found my way to the city and am seeking relationships. I want to change the world but am often overwhelmed by the size of that task. I have found comfort and joy in my calling as a mother, but always feel like there might be something more.

That was fun! I think I’ll do that more often — maybe once a week? And I’ll be exploring that website more to get more tips on telling my story. Because he’s right, “Influential organizations and individuals tell a story that is so compelling others can’t help but want to join it.” I want to have a story that compelling!

A rainy day at the drive-in

So one way they say to get better at something is to practice. This is one of my platforms for practicing, so here I am to practice. This is the first story I’ll tell as part of this adventure. (So hopefully by the end, I’ll look at this story and think “Man, that was terrible! I am so much better now!)

A Rainy Day at the Drive-In

My alarm went off at an unusually early 6:30 am. I awoke to huge booms of thunder and downpour of rain that had woken me many times during the night. My first thought upon seeing the rain was “Seriously. I have to go to the drive-in. In that?”

I work at a church that just switched it’s summer worship to an outdoor service at a local run down drive-in. They had been doing this for decades and it’s a beloved tradition for those who are members (and probably many in the community as well) but I had not yet been to the drive-in and was NOT excited to go out in the rain. Especially to an outdoor church service. But, I was curious about the experience, and the only staff person who was able to be there today, so I was going. (Although I did turn on the news, half hoping to see a “Drive-In Worship Cancelled due to RAIN!” warning scrolling on the bottom of the news. No luck.)

The kids, Cory and I got ready, packed up our things and headed to the unknown of the drive-in. I had filled the car with toys, coloring books and snacks, hoping that would help our kids at least be quiet during the service, because I knew they wouldn’t be going outside today.

However, as we drove to Stillwater, the skies began to clear! The rain cleared up and the sun even came out for a bit. It was a beautiful day to be at the drive-in, although still too wet to really be outside. The worship service was good, although my oldest son Everett was pretty chatty and I had to keep reminding him that he was at church and that we were praying. He wanted to talk to the cute interns who had furnished the coloring pages!

I had been to a drive-in once before, with some friends from camp. We saw Men in Black II and I remember at the time that I wanted to talk to the people around me more than I wanted to focus on the movie playing. I had the same feeling today – that I wanted to connect with those around me and was not particularly focused on the worship service at hand. I heard probably 2 words of the sermon, but I enjoyed a delicious scone, so that was worth it 🙂

All in all, I’m not sure that drive-in services are for me. I go to church for community. And yes I love the outdoors, but I also love the sound of a congregation of people singing or praying together. And the horn honking during the service was a bit jarring.

Starting the story….

i was recently inspired by this site about how you can learn to do anything in a year. There are so many things I want to learn how to do! Where to start? The answer became glaringly clear in the past few weeks. Storytelling. I know that I have a story to tell – even kind of a good one – but I often struggle to tell that story. How do I capture ordinary moments that bring me so much joy and beauty in a way that engages people? It’s not my strong suit, so here I am embarking on a journey to become a storyteller. I know that there are crazy amounts of ways to tell stories – in person, on a blog, in a Facebook status update or Tweet, through videos and pictures – and I hope to learn a bit about all of them during this adventure, but mostly just how to quickly tell an engaging story that captures emotion and interest. I want to capture every day moments and details that often go unnoticed, but that make a story a good one. As I go, I will share what I learn, the resources that are helpful, and stories and videos to track my progress as a storyteller. But, for now, this site is for ME. If others happen to come along as we go, that’s great – they are part of the story! But for now, let’s get started.  Here we go!