6. What do you want people to feel when they hear your story?
100 days of responding to writing prompts
The simple answer to the question of what do I want people to feel when they hear my story is I want them to feel connection and hope. As someone who has been a live performer for multiple decades and has written and performed a number of personal stories on stage including one hour long solo show about myself, I’ve had a lot of chances to reflect on and articulate various parts of my story. I also speak through my lived experiences when I’m coaching or facilitating individual or group clients. I tell stories of my own struggle, my own growth, and my own intentionally shifting perspectives in ways that are intended to help folks recognize what is possible and also recognize that making mistakes or being ignorant about something doesn’t need to be a source of shame or loss of momentum.
As a licensed clinical therapist, I share a little less of my literal story in session with clients but I still speak through my story and experience my clients through my story so I hope when I’m holding the clinical frame for my clients they are able to feel cared for and safe enough to want to better understand themselves and understand that they aren’t broken.
Psychologist, author, and scholar of feminist theory and family systems theory Harriet Lerner said, “In our rapidly changing society we can count on only two things that will never change. What will never change is the will to change and the fear of change. It is the will to change that motivates us to seek help. It is the fear of change that motivates us to resist the very help we seek.”
My hope in every aspect of myself and my work, from performing artist, to therapist, to coach, to community member, to dad, is that sharing parts of my story will help people recognize their own capacity to change and not be restricted by fear.