Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about our lives as stories. It’s a concept I learned as I spent the summer before my senior year of high school in Washington, D.C. at the Al Neuharth Free Spirit and Journalism Conference.
Our lives tell a story whether we realize it our not. Everyone has a story to tell.
While in Washington, D.C., surrounded by 50 aspiring journalists such as myself, it was easy to chase that concept with starry eyes.
But as I sit here in college trying to find my own story, I can’t help but wonder, does everyone have a good story to tell?
I would argue that it takes depth to make a story good. Take The Cat in the Hat, for example. The writing isn’t very good and it lacks depth.
The books that endure with broader audiences contain stories that resonate with us on a deeper level. The Scarlet Letter reveals the tension between the public and the private selves. Its message reaches our hearts because we feel those tensions.
As college students, and maybe just as humans, we fall into a rut in our day-to-day lives. For example, I wake up around 8 a.m. every morning. I drink some strawberry Crystal Light, eat yogurt, go to class, eat lunch, go to more classes, go to work, eat supper, do homework, hang out with friends, and go to sleep.
While in D.C., my summer was an endless juxtaposition of itinerary and spontaneity. I was living a story worth telling. But as I’m settling into college, I rarely shake anything up.
My story is getting boring.
Likewise, I can go out with the intention of “having a good time” but eventually that will get old or I will get old. Then I will have lived a life that only revolved around me. No one wants to listen to that story. There’s nothing to gain from it.
Rosa Parks was a character that wanted something not only for herself but for others, overcoming massive conflict to get it. We love her story because it’s inspiring, because its message of freedom and equality resonates with us. Her story has and will live on.
The Free Spirit Conference was so named because we were taught that everyone has a story, and we were taught to live the life that a free spirit would. When we live our lives intentionally, aware of the world around us, we are deemed free spirits.
You don’t have to be Rosa Parks to tell a story. Simply tell it with enthusiasm and involve other people. Live your life intentionally. Recognize a passion. Live aware of the world around you. Connect with other people in meaningful ways. Be a free spirit. Make your story worth listening to.