Editing Telling Stories (section)

=== Story of Self ===
Telling your Story of Self communicates who you are, the choices that have shaped your identity, and the values that influenced those choices. Learning to tell a compelling, emotive Story of Self takes the courage of introspection—and even more courage to share what you discover.

We construct our Stories of Self around “'''choice points'''”—moments when we faced a challenge, made a choice, experienced an outcome, and learned a lesson. Ask yourself: When did I first care about being heard? When did I first experience injustice? When did I feel I had to act, and what did I do? Once you identify a specific, relevant choice point, dig deeper: What was the outcome of this choice, and how did it feel? What did it teach me?

Some of us may think our personal stories don’t matter or that others won’t care. Yet if we do community or social change work, sharing our stories can be a powerful way to communicate our values and call others to join us—where we come from, why we do what we do, and where we think we’re going. What’s more, if we don’t author our own stories, others might do it for us (in ways we may not like).

<div style="background:#f5f5f5; padding:12px; border:1px solid #ddd; border-radius:4px;"> <p>In developing your Story of Self, reflect on these questions in relation to the issue or campaign you are working on:</p> <ul> <li>Why am I called to leadership?</li> <li>Why did I decide to tackle this specific injustice or problem and work on this organizing effort?</li> <li>What values move me to act? Have these values always been important to me? If not, when did that change? How might these values inspire others to act?</li> <li>What stories from my own life—about specific people or events—can show, rather than tell, how I learned or acted on those values?</li> </ul> <p>For more help with developing your Story of Self and full Public Narrative, see the “[https://harper.whc.ca:2083/cpsess2505230392/frontend/jupiter/filemanager/showfile.html?file=worksheet+-+Developing+your+Public+Narrative.pdf&fileop=&dir=%2Fhome%2Flqpvahro%2Fpublic_html%2Fresources%2Fassets%2Fworksheets&dirop=&charset=&file_charset=&baseurl=&basedir= Developing Your Public Narrative]” worksheet.</p> </div>

<youtube>EfsfG3DkSuA</youtube>