The English Square

Your Story is Gold

Feb 23 / Rebecca Hope

Imagine how many micro decisions, contexts and interactions it took for you to get where you are today. Sometimes we shy away from speaking up because we feel our story isn’t worth sharing.

With so many people in the world doing interesting things, who would care to listen to my story? Is my story even important? The answer is yes! Your story is gold. It’s ever-evolving and can’t be pinned down to a specific definition but that’s the beauty of it.
 
Stories are what make up our world. Through generations, stories have been lived and told to progress us forward. Sharing your stories and releasing them into a greater domain shapes greater narratives which shapes reality. Sounds a bit extreme but it’s true. You literally become a choice architect when you share your stories.

Effective communication is hard to define. What’s the measurement for what’s “effective” and what’s not? Sometimes communication has delayed effects. Are we measuring the effects in the short term or long term? It’s nice to pump up the ego and think our communication is effective. But what are others feeling and thinking? How are they receiving our stories and what deep ideological connections are you awakening?


Truth be told, I wasn’t aware of the extent to which many people have a fear of speaking in public until a light switched on a few days ago. Before my corporate public speaking training sessions, I run linguistic analyses with each individual to get a sense of their needs. I then group the needs together to create collective narratives. What emerges is always fascinating. People experience a range of speaking problems related to psychological, linguistic, and social aspects. Even though this is what I do every day, I don’t think I truly understood the issue in its fullness.

Many people are living in a state of being muted. Because of their apprehension to use their voice, they end up communicating their needs, pains, concerns, thoughts and feelings in other ways. Sometimes these alternative ways aren’t helpful or healthy and can miss out on a lot of opportunities.

There’s a heap of noise out there. A lot of stories being told by the same minority of people dominating the story space. We need your voice to balance out the noise. It all starts with a step of courage to be a little open with your feelings, experiences, perspectives and thoughts. If you’re not a risk taker, this may be out of your comfort zone. But remember, with risk comes the possibility of reward – for yourself and the collective narrative.

Share on socials

Empty space, drag to resize
Empty space, drag to resize

Top Podcast Picks

Empty space, drag to resize

Communicate Effectively

Engage in specialised learning to develop your communication skills.
Created with