The best stories are... boring?

I open the door and walk in.?

I hand the receptionist my card.

She types for a while, and hands it back to me.?

I wait my turn in the corridor, next to three other people.?

We all stare at the blank wall in front of us.?

After a few minutes, one of the physiotherapists gestures to me and I go in the main room.?

I stand there, not sure what to do first, and he points to the ultrasound area.?

I sit down, put both of my wrists into a water bowl, and wait. I can’t feel anything at all.?

The timer beeps, I stand up, dry my forearms and sit down in a different chair, next to four other people.?

No one makes eye contact or says anything.?

Another physiotherapist comes, sticks the pads on my arms and hands me the electric shock machine.?

I raise the voltage and l it starts to hurt. Then raise it some more until my hands clench into claws.?

Once my time is up, I walk into a different room, pick a rubber band and do some exercises.?

I put the rubber band away, stretch, and walk out.?

No one watches me leave.?

I’ve been coming here for two weeks.?

My wrists are better.?

But I feel worse.?

________________________________________

When it’s fun…?

It’s easy to tell a story when something exciting happens.?

You just… tell it ??

“You won’t believe what just happened to me! So I go up to the bar to get a drink, this guy just slams into me and when I turn around to complain he says…”?

Anyone can tell those stories well. Can you make them better? Sure.?

• Start with time and place (as close to the end as possible)
• Use dialogue
• Describe the action
• Make the change you’ve gone through clear at the end

That’s it. But honestly? Even that might be waaaay more instruction than most people need to share something exciting.?

But when it’s not…?

The challenge is telling the stories that aren’t fun. When little or nothing happens. The ones that left you bored or indifferent when they were going on.?

Why would you even tell a story like that? Because plenty of life is boring. Plenty of it can leave you cold. And those are also problems to acknowledge and, sometimes, deal with.?

Take my story above: I’m describing what (to me) feels like the dehumanising environment of a physiotherapy clinic.?

But many people have had similar experiences about working in a corporate job. Or studying something they didn’t care about. Maybe even being in a failed relationship.?

The secret is, weirdly, the same: you just… tell it.?

Tell us what you saw. What people said. How you felt.?

(Or don't: I chose not to go inside my head until the very end there because I thought the feelings would already be obvious.)?

If we’ve gone through something like it, we will relate, and that’s really the most important job of a story: to connect.?

If you manage that…?

A boring story can be exciting too ??

-Francisco?