A Story Only You Can Write
By Steve Gahagen
When we discover and play to our strengths, our ability to thrive and breathe life into others is significantly enhanced. But so many of us underestimate the value of our story and the impact we can make. The more I spend time with people, listening to their stories, the more I realize they have a story that only they can write. Our power is in our uniqueness. If we don’t write our stories, no one else will and no one else can.
Think about the uniqueness of people. There are approximately seven billion people on the planet. After a while, one would think humans would start becoming redundant. How many different lives can there be, right? But the discovery of DNA shows that we are so unique that we each have our own genetic code. We are all unique and a little weird.
There’s the good weird - the kind that starts innovative businesses and moves the world forward. And then there’s the kind of weird we’d rather do without, that feels uncomfortable. However, what makes you weird makes you memorable. All great art was made by weird people. When we hide our weirdness, our strength also remains hidden.
An Australian nurse named Bronnie Ware, who cared for people in the last twelve weeks of their lives, recorded their most often discussed regrets. At the top of the list: “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
We are created to be unique, but we feel safer with same. When we bravely decide to embrace our own uniqueness, it lets others know they belong just as they are too.
We love stories like that of Thomas Edison, who was thought to be “dumb” by his father and teacher, but emerged as an innovative inventor with over one thousand patents. Imagine the loss to society if he had simply conformed and been like everyone else.
Questions to Consider:
How would you describe your uniqueness?
How could you better embrace your uniqueness and write a great story?
Text three people and ask them to tell you what makes you unique or weird.