This week is National Storytelling Week. The aim is to encourage children not just to read but to write stories.

It got me thinking about our own stories. The story of us.

Where does your story come from? Do you like it? Would you like to change it?

We often can’t change what is happening to or around us, but we can change how we respond to it.

Some years ago I suffered a major bereavement whilst holding down a high pressure role in the City of London. This had a massive impact on my life. For a long time I didn’t feel that I was writing my own story – it felt like someone else was. And for quite a long period it actually felt like that story was an episode of EastEnders!

But after a while, I realised that I wanted to write my own story. I couldn’t change what had happened. It has had an enormous effect on me.

But I didn’t have to let it define me.

I decided to turn the page and start a new chapter, one that I wanted to write. It hasn’t always gone to plan – there have been a fair few plot twists and new characters – but it’s still my story.

Understanding my past enabled me to move forward into a wonderful new chapter. I own my own story.

Do you want to be in charge of your story? What do you need or want to change in your life? You don’t have to keep re-reading the same old chapter over and over again.

What can you do to start writing the next chapter?

3 February 2020