#251 — DEAD OR ALIVE | SHARING THOUGHTS
Now I Know: I Was Born To Be A Storyteller
Understanding this will finally remove the guilt
In the past months, I have frequently received comments about being a skilled storyteller, but it was actually this one by Mrs. K on my story, Scary Stories In The Ivory Tower, which sparked some thoughts in me:
You’re such a great storyteller, Marie! It doesn’t matter the genre, you always rise to the occasion. Well done!
It actually made me think about the way I talk; the way I share events with others.
I always tell a story.
You talk too much
Imagine a little girl who has an overactive imagination, and the urge to share that with those around her. Or a girl who experiences something at school and wants to tell her parents what had happened. But also a teenager who visits family once a year and wants to share stories from all the time she hadn’t seen them.
My parents might’ve been the first who said it: you talk too much.
However, they were not the only ones. I clearly remember an uncle of mine remarking: she has so many words.
It was a theme throughout my life until way into my twenties, that family members — whether aunts, uncles, cousins or my own parents — would say I talk so much.
They always laughed when they said this, but it still stung.
Those words hurt.
They made me doubt myself.
Telling stories as an adult
I carried that hurt and doubt with me into adulthood.
Whenever I told someone something, I would do that with the enthusiasm and energy the story deserves.
The guilt would always strike afterwards.
Have I talked too much? Was I selfish in demanding their attention for so long? Why can’t I just share a bit and let them ask questions if they want to know more? Why do I always have to talk so much?
Sometimes the guilt would stay with me for days.
A born storyteller
When I read that comment above, the thought that immediately struck me was: Maybe I’ve been born a storyteller?
It was like an epiphany!
From the moment I could, I have told stories — fiction and fact. With all of them, I always started at the beginning to give context to whatever I narrated.
Obviously, with fiction, it’s good to give some background to the principal theme of the story.
However, I do the same with fact.
If I share what happened today, and it might’ve been a reaction to something that had happened earlier, I relay the events chronologically. I first share the past events to give background, then tell what happened today.
Whenever someone would remark on that, I just joked and said I prefer to take my story from Timbuktu to here.
Yes, I can shorten my story and let people guess about or ask for the rest, but that’s just not my style.
Ever since I got to know myself so much better with the help of a coach, I no longer feel guilty about certain aspects of my personality.
One of those is the fact that I ‘talk too much’.
I was born to be a storyteller, and I will always be one.
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