Perhaps that story of yours doesn’t really belong to you anymore.
You guys have some incredible stories.
Over the last few years, I’ve found myself saying to people, “You should write that down. That’s a good story.” But sharing our stories isn’t so easy, is it?
There’s a lot involved with putting your story out there for the world to see.
Besides the mechanics of writing or speaking to groups of people or even one on one, there are some other factors that I think can sometimes keep us for setting the story free.
- The Hypocrite Factor – Sometimes we don’t share about our victories because … well … what if we screw up again? We don’t want to be labeled as hypocrites. We’re scared that our victory won’t stick, and maybe if we don’t share our stories, we can dodge the failure bullet (because not talking about stuff always keeps failure away …)
- The After Sharing Depression Factor – When we share our hearts with people, there can be a bit of a letdown afterward if we don’t get the response we’re expecting or even if we do. People go on. Stories are read and put aside. Blog posts are replaced by the next thing in the inbox, and then it’s not special anymore … it’s ordinary again.
- The Cheapening Factor – We like our stories. They are special to us. And sometimes it can seem like plastering our heart up on Facebook will cheapen it. Should we really share the deepest discoveries of our life with people we don’t know and who don’t know us? They don’t even care. What will happen if we post are incredible story, and I don’t get any likes?
You know what all of those reasons have in common?
They’re about one person, not many.
Now, part of me wants to say if these three factors are major concerns, then maybe we shouldn’t share our stories. Maybe we’re not ready yet. Sharing our experiences with others really needs to be about the others and not about us.
I recently had the opportunity to share with a group of people about my struggles. I didn’t really want to, but when it came right down to it, I realized I don’t have the rights to my story anymore. It’s not mine. It’s God’s. I wanted to use all my excuses (factors) to get around the limelight, but I couldn’t because what if it helped somebody? What if it shed light in someone’s darkness? What if its sole purpose was to honor God’s working in my life? Wouldn’t that be enough?
It’s not about me. And maybe your stories aren’t about you anymore either. Maybe they are about something bigger than you, something greater, something higher — something that goes past your story to illustrate truths far beyond the account of one person.
Do you have a story you think needs to be told? Will you tell it?
