For as long as I can remember, I have told stories. When I have moved or changed jobs and encounter former acquaintances, I most often hear as their first comment that they miss my tales. Anything to me can become a great narrative, from something ridiculous that happens in my own life to anything I’ve heard, read or written myself. Oftentimes it’s the very random, small day to day happenings that are the most entertaining. Anyone who has talked to me for more than a few minutes swiftly becomes familiar with a staple assertion that I frequently make: “I have a story about that.”
I think that oftentimes people mistakenly think their lives boring. Everyone has inexplicable, strange things going on around them at some point or another, and sometimes they also have epic tales of adventures great and small. It’s really a matter of recognizing the worth of these anecdotes and finding a way to express them. There is a poem by Jack Prelutsky that I have loved since I was first introduced to it many years ago. It’s called Today is Very Boring and is about just this subject:
I think that oftentimes people mistakenly think their lives boring. Everyone has inexplicable, strange things going on around them at some point or another, and sometimes they also have epic tales of adventures great and small. It’s really a matter of recognizing the worth of these anecdotes and finding a way to express them. There is a poem by Jack Prelutsky that I have loved since I was first introduced to it many years ago. It’s called Today is Very Boring and is about just this subject:
I think it’s important to keep that spark of dreaminess, adventure, and interest in your life. Whether that’s through someone else’s stories, your own creations or real-life activity there is endless material to draw from. Life is what you make it, and so no one should surrender to the “momentum of mediocrity” as Marlon Brando once said in the movie Don Juan De Marco.
Dream it up and live it - then regale someone else with your report. In my experience that extra step of sharing your experience with another is what really triggers the vitality in any event and grants it extra weight.
Dream it up and live it - then regale someone else with your report. In my experience that extra step of sharing your experience with another is what really triggers the vitality in any event and grants it extra weight.