What’s your story?
You may think you know it already—where you were born, where you went to school, what you do for a living—but do you?
Life storytelling coach Stacy Brookman believes that everyone’s life is worthy of a book. The story of your life may seem ordinary or even dull to you, but it contains valuable wisdom and insights.
No one knows your life quite like you do. No one has gone through the exact same experiences you have. Your life is worthy of recording, even if it’s just in the pages of a journal or notebook.
Something magical happens when you start writing down what happened to you. You start to see themes you never saw before. You gain greater clarity about what the events in your life meant. You may even find closure and peace.
Intrigued? Then watch as Stacy explains how you can harness the magic of life storytelling for yourself.
Write the 1st chapter of your life story in just 7 days
What You’ll Learn
“You don’t have to be a writer to write your life stories.”
Why would you want to write about your life?
Especially if writing isn’t something you enjoy or do very often.
Stacy Brookman has the answer. Writing has proven psychological benefits. “It can increase your immune system. It can reduce pain. It can help you be a lot clearer on your own goals. There are a myriad of benefits from writing about your life.”
In fact, writing helped Stacy get through a difficult divorce.
She took a memoir class and was amazed at how much better she felt when she got her experiences down on paper. She felt calmer, she understood what had happened better, and she was able to get through that tough time in a much more peaceful way.
“The benefit is in getting [your life stories] out of your head and onto paper or onto a computer,” she explains. “You don’t have to follow grammar rules. It’s not your 7th grade English class at all.”
Stacy recommends a technique that works for even non-writers. It’s called freewriting. You set a timer, you think of a moment in your life, and then you write. You don’t take your pen off the page until the timer goes off.
This kind of writing is for you. It doesn’t have to be any good. You don’t have to show it to anyone else. You certainly don’t have to publish it.
Life storytelling is particularly helpful in finding your life theme and processing traumatic memories.
“If you have lived, you’ve had some sort of trauma,” Stacy explains. “Writing about past traumatic events can really help you clear your mind and move forward in ways you never expected.”
Even if you’ve avoided thinking about painful past experiences, it can help to remember them and put them down on paper.
“Words on paper are safe,” Stacy says. “Words are not going to hurt you.” It can be easier to write something down than tell someone about it.
“When you write, you have to find the words for your feelings … what happened to you…. And those words are healing and awful at the same time, because when you put a name to what you’ve been through, you can start to heal, and … it loses its power over you.”
Although you can enjoy all the benefits of life storytelling even if you never show another soul what you’ve written, you might want to consider sharing your stories.
“What if there is somebody out there that is just about to go what you went through?” Stacy asks. “Or just in the midst of going through what you’ve been through? Wouldn’t that help them—your experience, your lessons learned, your wisdom you’ve gained?”
To get you started, Stacy offers a free webinar on “The 4 Simple Proven Methods to Writing the 1st Chapter of Your Life Story in Just 7 Days.”
Even if you have no idea where to begin, she makes it easy and fun. The webinar will help you even if you’re just looking to write your family history or find greater clarity about your goals. “Whatever your writing purpose is, I can help you,” Stacy says.
She wants you to know:
Everyone has a story to tell, and it’s never too late to start writing yours.”
Jump to Topics of Interest
2:35 How Stacy’s personal experiences taught her the power of life storytelling
4:21 Writing as therapy, not necessarily publication
5:06 Finding your life theme
6:00 Childhood trauma
8:40 Why it’s healing to write about the stuff you just want to forget
11:39 Ways to keep your writing safe from outside eyes
12:50 The joy of writing about the lessons you’ve learned and positive memories
13:50 Freewriting for people who don’t like writing or don’t feel they can write
17:00 Write the 1st chapter of your life story in just 7 days
19:04 Everyone has a story to tell
About Stacy Brookman
Stacy is an author, entrepreneur, writing coach, and creator of the Real Life Resilience podcast and Lifestory Laboratory courses. She’s spent years researching the art and psychology of life storytelling. Her goal is to help people transform their lives and increase their resilience by telling their life stories. Find out how you can work with Stacy
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