How to Learn Storytelling If You Didn’t Grow Up With It
By: Sanjeev Yadav
Tags: Storytelling, Self Improvement, Family, Life, Empathy

Authenticity is the holy grail in connecting with the audience with least effort. You have already experienced what you are talking about in your work. You just have to make it come to life in such a way that you were reliving it when it happened the first time.

The nostalgia is worth it whenever I share my past experiences in blogs. While writing itself, I learn a lot of lessons from just a single exposure. This compounding effect drives me to share more with readers.

Storytelling should feel like deja-vu. Make your audience a part of it. Walk with your audience by explaining the story in the same way as one student explains subject-matter topics to another. We all are learners who could use some storytelling skills.

Some people don’t grow up with storytelling.

I know I said something unconventional just now. But hear me out.

I am not talking about the stories we read in school. I have had proper primary education and read those stories from someone outside of my family, i.e., teachers.

Like every student, I even recited them for exams. Those stories are a load because you have to prove your lessons in the test. Geez, what a tax on short-term memory!

Out of hundreds of stories you read in school, there is an art of storytelling in the few ones you vividly remember till now. I am talking about that art you see in your parents’ stories. We learn a lot from our parents. This realisation came late to me and became stronger this year.

Who tells you stories mostly? The patient person, the calm one, the one who has all the time to shower the soft love. Hint: Your mother.

But my mother expired when I was 7.

Practical people don’t often tell stories. They give actionable advice.

My father is the most practical person I have seen so far. Storytelling approach is a big no from him. He doesn’t talk often. If I try to tell him a story, his expressionless reaction tacks a nail in my head. I almost lost the trust in the concept of storytelling.

I feel lucky when my father tells a story because he rarely does. When he starts, it is something I have to listen carefully. Otherwise, if I don’t walk through as he expects me to, then he won’t tell a story for a few months.

Wow! What a time for him to be stubborn. It is the kid’s right to be stubborn, not the parent’s. The one thing that’s ours, he took it!

Realising the power of storytelling from reading

I’ve developed the habit of reading in the past eight months. I am reaping huge benefits from it. I realised the power of storytelling when I started applying those lessons and shared my experiences with acquaintances by talking and with the world by blogging.

Now I know every person can describe his experience uniquely if they want to. Storytelling gives wings to your life which can even lift someone from misery. You don’t know the power of stories unless someone says this to you softly, “You inspire me buddy. Keep going and never stop. The world needs more people like you.”

Storytelling makes you an empathetic person. I didn’t know the power of storytelling until I started the challenge to write one blog every day to test my writing skills and see how it turns out.

It is difficult to describe the revelation of the strength of storytelling in words. But I think I have touched the reader’s heart if I spark that same emotion which I felt while writing.

Honestly, I will never know if I achieved it. But, feedbacks are sure ways to confirm this fact.

I am getting a lot of positive affirmations nowadays. Storytelling is the result of my imagination and experiences coupled together to convert every storm into a life-changing lesson which can help anyone facing similar problems.

Final words

My experience with storytelling? I have just scratched the surface.

I use symbolism a lot. I could write a 10 minutes long article about a 5-minute experience I had in the past if I learned something from it.

How to reach this level? You can do this by understanding what your emotions are trying to tell you. Instead of trusting them completely, see the change they are trying to show you and then make an informed decision. Your heart will thank you for it. You will feel lighter than ever.

Let’s cut to chase. It has a lot to do with emotional intelligence. I don’t know if there is an upper bound for this, but I will keep improving.

While in this journey of storytelling, the feedback from the community is even improving me every day. If you are a great storyteller, you will make great connections with people.

Your personal touch is what makes you different. If you grew up with storytelling, then it’s great. If you grew up with only practical advice, feed your imagination by reading.

This blog belongs to a series of posts I am publishing in this 100-days streak. Today is day 75. Navigate to the end of article 22, for the references from day 23 onwards. If you would like to read the ones before day 22, here is the first one that documents them in the end.

~ Sanjeev