Sept. 2, 2019

I am delighted to welcome you to In Your Own Words, to tell you a bit about why I help people capture and preserve their life stories, whether those are about an event, a business, or the sweep of an entire life. From time to time, I’ll share insights and words of wisdom from others who understand this storytelling business from a variety of angles, for I have learned that there are as many stories—and reasons to tell those stories—as there are people.

Let’s begin.

We humans, by nature, love and need our stories.

Think back to the stories you heard as a child. Stories are how cultures and traditions have been passed from one generation to the next since the beginning of language. It’s how parents and grandparents teach their children, by drawing them close and telling them the things they want them to know.

When you tell your story, you share your memories for a lifetime and beyond, and give your family an opportunity to share in your experience in ways they never could have imagined.

But capturing your story for others is also a gift to the storyteller. The process itself can open us to view our experiences from a new perspective.

In the Huffington Post, Rachel Freed wrote, “Telling our stories is not an end in itself, but an attempt to release ourselves from them, to evolve and grow beyond them. We tell our stories to transform ourselves; to learn about our history and tell our experiences to transcend them; to use our stories to make a difference in our world; to broaden our perspective to see further than normal; to act beyond a story that may have imprisoned or enslaved us; to live more of our spiritual and earthly potential.”