It was Write Your Story Day last Monday. If I set you the task of writing your story over the weekend what would you include? Would it be your vision of where you want to be in six months’ time in three areas – career, relationships, home? All my clients rewrite their stories in at least one of these three areas of their lives.
We intrinsically understand that narrative is important but at the same time, we shy away from writing it ourselves because we think it might be too self-indulgent or self-absorbed for us. We think, Why should I stand out from the crowd? Why should I make my life seem more important than others’ – my mother’s, my father’s, my grandmother’s?
I grew up in a household in which no one told their stories. I gravitated to working in the arts and media where I felt I could at least share some stories, if not my own. I worked in publishing where I outscored other publishers’ publishing lists because I was so keen to sell others’ stories. I worked as a journalist where I would sometimes work till 11 pm at night ensuring that the story was print-ready. I would lie awake agonising over how it would appear on the page. Articles were sometimes syndicated – some have even been cited in academic journals.
I graduated with an MA from one of the UK’s top postgraduate MAs for creative writing and have been published ever since. I went on to do a Ph.D. on the benefits of developing your authentic narrative as a means of transforming your life. It was doing this Ph.D. that gave me the space to embark on my own programme of self-healing and transformation. I realised that for too long I had not been able to value my own gifts and abilities because I was scared of sharing my story. As Marianne Williamson writes ‘The moment of surrender is not when life is over, it’s when it begins.’
Over the last two years, I have been building Narrative Life Coaching, working with clients from four continents to develop and finesse my signature programme Communicate Your Story. Thanks to all the research and feedback on the course I will finally be launching Communicate Your Story as a three-part, six-month course later in spring kicking off with a five-day free taster in May!
Carl Jung wrote ‘After a long period of outward expansion, we are beginning to look within ourselves once more.’ (Modern Man in Search of a Soul) One of the unique aspects of the Communicate Your Story course is that, as clients give themselves the space and time to look within, they start to be able to communicate their vision better. With 80%-100% ratings so far, clients have told me they have been able to gain the new home, job, or partner they have been longing for, sometimes in the space of just six months!
So what story will you write with your life? Perhaps you’ll be able to share it on March 20th for World Storytelling Day!
Warmly
X Elizabeth Rose
