Spalding Gray wrote,“I have to live a life in order to tell a life.” This statement sounds like an approval stamp for an all-out, risky, provocative, life style. Do I have to jump through fire hoops or take on near-death dares in order to be a successful storyteller?
Absolutely not. This quote means that one needs to take a small step out of his/her comfort zone. Weitman, in her book, Long Story Short, suggests to live life for the story. You have to be open to new experiences. Why not take a different way home? Perhaps there’s a story just around the corner. Embrace awkwardness. Our general human reaction is to get out of the situation a.s.a.p. The author says to see what happens when you sit a spell in uneasiness; surely, a story will begin to take shape.
Sally Borg, a storytelling classmate, often views mishaps as makings of a good story. She tells a story about fixing a small leak under her kitchen sink that took her multiple trips to Home Depot. She made the audience laugh harder and harder as she exacerbated the problem with each trip required more parts and more tools.
Weitman advocates conversing with strangers. I took her suggestion and struck up a conversation with a homeless man who ended up being our former auto mechanic. Once, a woman in Walmart complimented me on my hair and we began a casual conversation. She said something so thought-provoking that it became a story about loving yourself as you are. In the movie, Forrest Gump, life is like a box of chocolates. I believe living like that is void of story; it is humdrum and routine; you are always expecting chocolate. A story-filled life is like Jelly Belly Bean Boozled. The orange one could be peach or it could also be barf. You never know!
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