We tell stories every day of our lives.
We tell stories to explain ourselves to others. We tell stories to elicit answers, to start conversations, to remember loved ones. We tell stories to our children. They can be bedtime stories, or moralising ones, or both.
We tell stories to our husbands and wives. They may show us in a better light! Or they may help us share those important, wonder-filled moments of our childhood.
Our stories are of joy, of loss, of denial, of belonging.
I am a story teller.
Like any other one of us. One of my favourite childhood moments was lying in bed and making up stories for my sister, until we both fell asleep.
I am lucky to be a storyteller by trade, as well. I am a sociologist and someone who researches narratives (stories) for a living. This blog is based on the conviction that the stories we tell make us who we are. That what we choose to reveal and what we choose to change in our life stories is significant. That stories can be therapeutic, sense-making or simply told in order to build bridges to others.
My PhD consisted largely of listening to formerly homeless people telling me their life stories. I did not impose an order of events, I rarely interrupted and I let myself be led by the interviewees.
This blog features some of those stories, although it is largely personal.
You will find here stories about me and about my family and friends. As a bonus, because my background is in charity work, at the end of each story I have decided to share with you a charity that has moved me or which I find important.
[…] STORYTELLING […]