Telling stories of hope and not of despair

I recall a conversation with a few friends of mine (a fairly recent one, as a matter of fact) where my friends were telling me pretty much everything I had already thought about. I knew the problem that I needed to tackle, I knew how to tackle it, and I knew what outcome I could expect. And when my friends started doing the whole drill “what you need to do, Raul is…”, that’s when I understood completely what JT felt when I gave him completely unsolicited advice. I don’t need to be told what to do. I sometimes just need to be listened to.

I think that for many people, it’s hard to understand that sometimes all we need is to tell our stories. I am particularly drawn to this approach. I am an analytical person. I did a PhD for a reason. I have the training, the innate skills, the experience analyzing phenomena. I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do or how to do it, when I am faced with a problem. Sometimes, all I need is to tell my story. And the person with whom I am interacting can choose to present a story of hope or a story of despair.

For example, this month has been extremely challenging in the financial front because of the need for project development and the sheer volume of project proposals I’ve submitted and need to continue to submit. Under conditions of an economic downturn, nobody can afford to rest in his/her laurels. However, when bouncing ideas with some of my friends, I’ve basically told what’s going on in my life and in return I’ve received this depiction of a story that would terrify anyone.

It’s not the first time I’ve faced challenges in my life. But I choose to tell a story of hope.

This is Entry # 46 of 49

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