Are you the narrator of your life?

I am fascinated by stories. Not so much by fiction but rather by the stories from our daily lives. Luckily, I am surrounded by stories. And I heard so many wonderful stories that I decided to collect them because I wanted to share them with as many people as possible. Because there is so much we can learn from stories of other people. So I started the project 301 words, which is an online library for stories about personal life experiences that are told with no more than 301 words. It is incredible how much you can tell with just 301 words. Have a look yourself here.

I already wrote about the many advantages of storytelling. How it helps you to connect with your listeners and how it creates empathy. But so far I haven’t mentioned the probably most powerful aspect of storytelling, one that can truly change your perspective on life: Storytelling provides you with the opportunity of becoming the narrator of your life.

We all try to live a “good and happy life“ - whatever that means for each one of us. And we do our very best to make the right decisions and take responsibility for our own happiness. We take roads that hopefully will lead us in to the right direction and accept challenges that will help us to grow. But sometimes life provides us with challenges that we didn’t choose. Challenges disguised as tragedies: financial difficulties, a broken heart, an incurable disease, the loss of a beloved person… Those moments might change our lives forever. But I believe that even though we are not fully in control of the tragedies that happen to us, we are always in full control of how those tragedies affect our lives. The only thing we need to do for that is to tell the stories behind those tragedies the way we want them to unfold.

Because what gives tragedies so much power is the way we perceive them in retrospective. But it is still our decision how we want to perceive them. It is our decision how we want to tell the story, no matter what happens to us in life. There are so many ways to tell the same story. And every single way will give the story a different meaning. So let's decide what meaning we want to give to our stories. And by doing so we truly become the narrator of our lives.

I think the best way to describe what I mean is to share with you a story that proofs my point. A story from a woman who gave a new meaning to a tragedy. I received the story about two years ago. I never met the author but exchanged a few e-mails with her. Her story touched me deeply and it helped me to understand what I am trying to share with you in this post. It helped me to understand the power that lies within being the narrator of your life. That there are so many ways to tell a story and that by choosing your way you can take back control of your life.

The story I would like to share here with you is called: “We don’t own our children"

"They were born in a private Athens clinic in Greece when, at 39 and pregnant, I moved from NYC .There, doctors referred to them as ‘Twin A’ and ‘ Twin B’ on prenatal scans. I soon adopted Alpha and Beta as my unborn babies’ names. August 1st was extremely early for their delivery, but they wouldn’t wait ! Beta, my bright orange- haired daughter, perfectly formed, died as my husband and I dropped tears onto her incubator and spoke of the great love we had for her. A short life; 48 hours only. Alpha, my son, was transferred across to Pedon Childrens’ Hospital where he lived bravely for more than ten weeks. Dark orange-haired, he endured many trials and tribulations there in his efforts to survive. The beauty my children brought to me filled my heart to abundance; their passing broke it with deliberate steady blows. Time healed, as is its wont. I felt gratitude at having had those souls in my life, if even for a moment. They had chosen me as their mother. Three years later, I went on to have another son, and another daughter three years after that. My firstborns instilled in me an acute awareness that we do not own our children, something I’d often pondered on. This has been so helpful in raising my beloved Patrick and Fiona. I’ve tried to give them space to be themselves; not molded models of me. Protective maternal instincts sometimes clouded this vision but I fought it as best I knew how. It is indeed true, that seeing my offspring as persons in their own right whom I have the privilege to know, makes them prosper and confident. Our love runs deep and enriches our lives in every way. It’s been my honour to mother all four beings."

I hope this story inspires you to become the narrator of your life and to deliberately choose the way you want to tell your stories. And if you would like to share your story, so that others can learn from it, you are invited to contribute to the 301 words project and to become a member of our little family of storytellers.