What is the greatest fear for a storyteller? To someone like me there are many…of not pleasing my audience well enough, to lose my voice (oh yes! this unfortunate thing has happened), to losing my books and wealth of printed stories that I have lovingly collected over the years, of being tongue-tied before an audience. But my greatest fear is to wake up one fine day and discovering that I have no stories to tell!

I can’t fathom a day when I would wake up to discover that all my stories have been taken away from me. Vanished! Poof! Gone! Disappeared into thin air! Not the printed piles of books and laptop files, but the stories that I have in my mind, in my heart, in my blood.

Ever felt that way? Ever feared having your stories being snatched away from you? Ever felt the fear of having to start building your stories all over again?

But then you are not a storyteller! Right? My challenges, my fears, my insecurities are not yours!

Well, no! As long as you are living, as long as you are going through a myriad experiences, as long as you are swarmed by a rush of emotions in your daily life, until then my friend, you are a storyteller! At least you have the stories tucked in your heart, mind and blood…just like me. And like me, you should be deviously possessive of your stories!

And here is how…

This year, let there be no resolutions! Let there be no unachievable goals. Let there be no heartaches as we turn the calendar at the end of twelve months! Instead, this year take charge of your stories!

But what does taking charge of stories mean?

To me taking charge means various things…like being aware to the existence of stories, owning up to one’s own stories, to believing in them, to use them effectively for work and life. I’d say that would be taking charge of three types of stories:

Stories of the Past

What are stories if not recollections of memories and experiences? So this year begin by claiming the stories that you have lived in the past year. Describe the year gone by and the moments that you lived, or the lessons that you learnt and the memories that you built. Look within and nudge your own emotions, reactions and responses during those moments; pay close attention to your emotions because that is the most motivating factor in human behavior. For example, you decided to take a short sabbatical from your career to concentrate on yourself and your family. When you claim your story, look beyond the situations and identify the emotions that drove you to take the decision. Once you were on a leave, how did you feel? What do you do now and how does it make you feel? Do you see the world differently now? Is it full of hope? Are there renewed ambitions? Or unfulfilled dreams in the horizons? Do you feel without a purpose suddenly? A life without a deadline can get a little wary!

Whatever maybe the answer, look at yourself subjectively. Derive lessons about yourself from your own stories. Were you a winner? Or did you lose? (It’s perfectly all right to lose by the way!) What did you discover about yourself from these stories? The stories of the past are stories that you have in your bag, ready to be told!

We all have walked into the New Year a little older and a lot wiser, it is our own stories that give us wisdom!

If I were to write my story of the past here, I would say that the most prominent story of the year would be how I discovered that I was born to be a storyteller!

Stories of the Future

I began the year by filling up a planner. I like the idea of a planner that lets me slice and dice my thoughts, my goals and dreams for the year. I am no fortune teller, and I little know how my week will pass, but then I am also a storyteller who believes in the future. The stories of the future are the stories that I want to tell at the end of the year. The stories that are distant dreams to me now and those that I want to realize at the end of the year. No, they are no simple resolutions like I will lose weight and go on a holiday (which I have to, by the way)! They are stories that I know the end of and are writing the bodyfor. A resolution or a dream is nothing if we don’t work towards it.

So look at your resolution a little differently now. Look at it as a goal that you want to accomplish, a deadline that you want to meet and a milestone that you have to cross. Once you have done that, walk backwards laying down the road that you will have to walk on to reach that end. It’s like you have written the climax of your story and are writing back to the middle and beginning of your story! This is the story that you want to tell at the end of the year.

My story of the future is to be a published author! So I scribbling my stories and subjecting my son to them!

Stories In The Present

Oh yes, we certainly can’t ignore the stories we are living now! Like this moment you are reading this piece on taking charge of your stories. As you read and ponder over the words (which I hope you do), you begin thinking of the stories you have lived and want to share in the future. The lessons that you have learnt and the ones that you want to learn. One moment in a flashback, the other in fast forward! And if this compels you to take charge of your stories, then this is your story of the day! Stories in the present are stories in progress and remember you are the author, you choose how it goes!

The first may have just zipped by, but don’t fret! Take charge of your stories now, while the stories of the past are still fresh and the stories of the present don’t threaten the ones in the future! And if you ever get stuck or want someone to lend you a patient ear, you know where to find me!

Here’s Wishing Many Happy Stories To You!

This blog first appeared in the Your Story Bag Blog