The Power Of Storytelling Can Heal You

If you let your story rot inside, it can be a painful trap. Remaining unspoken and unheard can cost more than just words, it can cost someone their whole life. We are all battling with struggles that make us who we are today and if left undealt, can tether a bright future. But the power of storytelling is proven to have healing effects on the human mind and body.

What is it that you keep hidden from the world? What fear is holding you back? How are your words going silent slowly and steadily, shutting you out from the world outside? What did you do to ease the pain? What is your story?

Stories are the best way to connect with the world. We all know that children are natural storytellers. However, as they get older, they begin to wall themselves off from the outside world, disconnecting from their blood, and storing wrath and storms of emotions within themselves.

Similarly, each person has a compelling tale within them. Every story has a deeper significance and the power to emote you. One can even say it was the stories that robbed them of who they are, and it is the numerous untold stories that can reawaken the settled storm.

How Does Storytelling Affect You Overall?

Telling your story to even one person requires a huge amount of courage. Whatever you’ve gone through is only a small fraction of your life. Our experiences, I believe, will never stop and another chapter soon will be added to our storylines. There are parts that we ignore unless narrated one more time. When you tell your story, it all begins to make sense. You begin to examine the little details that were once left barren by you. Hence, storytelling can also bring back unlearned lessons or key details.

No matter how painfully deep the scenario may be, it’s a therapeutic affair once you talk about your journey. Not many will believe, but many will also be inspired. You also attain greater self-understanding, and confidence and may reach solutions faster.

Do you sometimes miss your old self despite the fact that you believe you are stronger today than you were before? Or do you remember your childhood vividly and desire to relive it? Or maybe you’re haunted by memories and don’t know how to soothe your heart, find the answers you’ve been seeking, and let it all run through your veins, numbing you in unimaginable ways. Your story can break, heal and create; die, reborn, and live.

Your story heals you; your story heals many.

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How Does Storytelling Bring Out Your Uniqueness?

Do you find yourself running away from yourself, breaching the barricades you’ve built, or do you want to fade into the shadows, hoping to go unnoticed in vain? You are the story that has to be read aloud, heard, and connected to other stories to create a history that has never been written before. And through the art of storytelling, you can save your life as well as others.

Irrespective of similar events happening around the world, it’s your experiences, strength, actions, hope, struggles, hardships, triumphs, and blessings that make your story yours and unique. And it’s the uniqueness that connects us all because we learn and heal when we hear stories; when we tell a story, we learn and heal again; when we connect or relate to a story, we learn and heal yet again.

While some stories are too fresh to share because we are still healing, they will help untangle the unresolved issues, give a clearer perspective, and divulge the parts we may have otherwise ignored or forgotten. Not only are you passing on the lessons to others but also you bring a certain amount of change to the world.

Consider how many lives have been transformed and restored as a result of imperfect, flawed people like you and me, who unfolded their stories. Do you see the dynamic power of storytelling?

The silence was a thin line between us; now the many stories are the bridge to connect the entire globe.

How Does Storytelling Help People?

Countless people are alone, in crisis, aching, wounded, ashamed, afraid, hurting, and looking for a ray of hope or a hand to pull them out of misery and pain or a little bit of understanding towards them.

Hope is a thin, loose string that can build an entire strong foundation of empowerment. You will be amazed to know that even a fifteen-word story can carry and give hope- “I was assaulted as a child, but I rose from the ashes of the ruins.” Whoever reads this and has been through these fifteen words can find themselves welling up while uttering “me too.” You give hope when you speak up.

Hope to be brave, hope to break and heal, hope to fall and rise again, hope to have courage, hope to face the fears, or pain, hope to find yourself again, hope to get justice, the hope for unity, hope to smile again, hope to laugh, hope to trust, hope to relive; this is what your story can give to many because they will witness how you dealt with everything, how you struggled, how you survived the thunderstorms, how you became you.

Telling your story will offer insight to others. We often know someone has encountered similar events, but the outcome was different for us, and we begin to question ourselves. It’s difficult to see anything amidst the dusted mess. We all know and have been there; misery blinds us from the truth, and trauma limits our perspective.

How Does Your Story Speak for You?

The world has much to gain from your story because it’s unique and real. Your story is the glimpse of light beyond the shadows of dark clouds, the possibility of happiness sunken in the silent pain, the first leaf of your sown seed. The world has a lot to gain from your words because someone is lost, discouraged, alone, and beyond hope or just waiting to be heard too.

Me too, likewise, same here, ditto, me as well, I feel you – How many times did you use these compelling words? How many times did these words ring like a bell in your mind with tears bouncing off your cheeks? Let the words come out.

The Power of Your Story Is the Power of You

Something shifted in your soul, and you finally choose to give your words a voice. Followed by those words and the empathetic yeses, you gather the courage to read more chapters of your life confidently. It’s similar to the domino effect and strengthening because when you tell your story, you encourage others to do so. Your story holds the power to reshape this world. So, storytelling empowers you as well as others.

Whether it’s about discontent in a marriage, inappropriate touch, physical or mental abuse, gain or loss in business, starting a new career at age 50, emotional attachments, guilt or shame, betrayal, addiction, infidelity, divorce or separation, abortion, being a young mother, sexual preference, racism, psychological disorders, it’s important to talk about it all out loud so you can send the message throughout the world that you’re unstoppable no matter what, and that you can help others do the same.

What Affect Does Storytelling Have On Mental Health?

It is agreeable that it is not always easy to recall and recount some of our experiences. Still, the ultimate goal of connecting with others, offering them hope or healing, and allowing our hardships to be used in a way that encourages others, can make our recollections worthwhile. There are psychological programs that particularly focus on storytelling as a method of healing. You can either speak out or write your story and share it with others.

Storytelling not only helped the patients recover from painful experiences but also cured physical illnesses that one thought were impossible. Regardless of the pace of healing, it has long-lasting positive effects.

Regardless of that, conveying your story will make you feel way better than keeping it trapped inside you. It is a heartfelt and overwhelming experience but a great deed. This is how your story speaks for you; this is how a voice given to a few words can turn loneliness into togetherness. Always remember, your story is worth telling; whether of six words or a thousand, it’s always worth delivering.

You need me; I need you; we all need each other’s stories because we are all walking stories.

Let us know about your experiences in the comments section below.