Sami Kinnison (00:00)
Welcome everyone to this week’s episode of the podcast. I’m one of your co-hosts, Sami Kinnison.

Angela Belford (00:05)
I am your other co host, Angela Belford

Sami Kinnison (00:07)
Today we are going to be diving into a conversation about why you should share your story. And I think it’s fun. I actually don’t know that we’ve had an episode specifically about storytelling, at least not in this way. I don’t know that we about why you should do it. What do you mean? Why are you looking at me like that? I don’t know that we’ve had lots of storytelling episodes.

Angela Belford (00:28)
Sara Loshi, Michael Davis. Yeah, for sure.

Sami Kinnison (00:33)
Okay,

fine. We’ve had several storytelling episodes. We’ll put the links in the show notes and Sami will go re-listen to them so that she can remember all of the conversations that we’ve had. Whoopsies,

Angela Belford (00:43)
my lord.

Sami Kinnison (00:45)
that’s fine. You know, at a certain point, when you’ve had 237 episodes, they do start to blur together, and you’re like, wait, have we talked about this? Have we not talked about this? Is it worth talking about again?

I

think that we have grown in the past, you know, four to five years.

Angela Belford (01:00)
Okay, I have

two thoughts on this. Number one, I recently had a new potential client that after we had our kind of introductory call, they said, I’ve I’ve been listening to your podcast, I started at episode one and I’m like cringe. Like, are you sure you don’t want to start at two one? That’d still give

Sami Kinnison (01:17)
That’s funny.

Angela Belford (01:18)
you a lot of content. which then they would have missed Sarah Loche and Michael Davis. So anyway, there’s that. Number two, yes, we have gotten

better. Number three, I think what’s cool is that there are times where I’m like, I think about things deeper, different, or like some of the stuff that Sarah Loche, like we had her on the podcast because it was eight months after I had seen her speak at a conference and I was still thinking about some of the stuff that she said. And so

Sami Kinnison (01:49)
Mm.

Angela Belford (01:51)
it’s but it to your point, it has been almost a year since we had Sarah on the podcast.

Sami Kinnison (01:57)
Also, when we inevitably

send this to her, she’s gonna like Sami, Sami, Sami. her and I talk more about my daughter and the fact that she is like in love with Maxine than we talk about, yeah, you were on my podcast and this is what we talked about.

Angela Belford (02:11)
Well, and it is sweet because Sarah was so excited because Maxine got to pop on the screen with

Sami Kinnison (02:17)
Right.

Angela Belford (02:17)
Sarah. So anyway. Okay. Why do we tell

Sami Kinnison (02:20)
So why do we tell our story, Angela?

Angela Belford (02:23)
our story? Well, I think here’s what I’m gonna start off with the opposite, which is that there are some people who are like, It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t share my story. Like I think maybe if we start with the contrarian it will make it more obvious because obviously we are pro storytellers, that’s why we have a podcast.

But there are people that continuously say, that was then, this is now, it doesn’t matter. yes,

so what? Somebody laughed at me in seventh grade. Big deal. That doesn’t impact me. And number one, I’m gonna say that is absolutely 100% of the work that I do is the somatic processing of beliefs that you’ve planted in your body because something happened to you. And let’s get and find the story that is behind.

What is driving your patterns of behavior today? Okay, and that doesn’t mean we have to sit on the couch for months and say, tell me about your mother or blame everything on your parents. That’s not what I’m saying. Because I actually have had a couple of instances in the last few weeks where people like had something that positive that their parents said to them that actually they took to the extreme.

And by figuring out that story, we were able to reassess that. So that’s number one is that the things that happen to you do sometimes have a lasting impact. It shapes how you see how the world works. So that’s number one.

Sami Kinnison (03:44)
Can I argue

that point in the in a nuanced way? whatever.

Angela Belford (03:51)
Do it.

Sami Kinnison (03:52)
I think that so number one, I read a book earlier this year called The Courage to Be Disliked, and it is my only five-star book of the year because I can’t stop talking about it. The difference between Freudian psychology and Adlerian psychology, Freudian psychology says, I am the way I am because of what has happened to me.

Adlerian psychology says, I am the way I am because of what I want and what I am pursuing and what I the goals I’m trying to accomplish. And what’s interesting is that the story about what happened to us impacts what we how we talk about the future things. And so so it’s yes, the thing that happened to you.

impacted who you are, but more true is that the story about the thing that happened to you.

Angela Belford (04:47)
The decision you made about what happened to you, what you made it mean is a what you made it mean.

Sami Kinnison (04:51)
What you made it mean and that that story that we’re telling

ourselves is imp and so that even there is an element I think that our our point really is why you should share your story with others. But it is also really important to understand like the stories that you tell yourselves and the s

Angela Belford (05:08)
Yourself.

Sami Kinnison (05:09)
the stories that you have within your family, like the this is the way things are done and this is why it’s done that way, and so much of it like.

it it is meaning making. I think we have talked about this recently. My four-year-old is just like the perfect example of trying to figure out how the world works in the most innocent and pure way. He is just observing things and then making obser and like making conclusions,

Angela Belford (05:37)
applying it.

Sami Kinnison (05:38)
applying it. The we had bunnies in our backyard and the daddy bunny is not there. he’s traveling for work because that’s what dads do. Okay.

This week we he was home from school and we were filling time. And so I let him and Maxine, they were playing with makeup and they were putting makeup on me and on themselves. And Peter put a bunch of lipstick on his face and he’s like, I gotta go to a meeting. I’m going to a meeting now. I have lipstick on. That means meeting time. And like, what does that mean? Like you wear makeup, that means you go to meetings? like that’s what Peter thinks. Like, that’s the point of makeup is so that you can go to a meeting. We are he’s just making sense of the world.

Angela Belford (06:16)
Mm.

Sami Kinnison (06:17)
And I love that you I because I haven’t told you this story

Angela Belford (06:19)
No.

Sami Kinnison (06:20)
yet. And so you’re getting a live reaction to her being like, Wait, what is he saying? because Lala goes to meetings, mom goes to meetings, Lala and mom, when they go to meetings, they wear makeup, they wear lipstick.

Angela Belford (06:30)
G

is gone to meetings. G didn’t G couldn’t come over ’cause he had a meeting.

Sami Kinnison (06:35)
But G doesn’t wear lipstick, so that’s the thing, is that like but he’s like if I

Angela Belford (06:36)
that’s true. I guess that’s true. that actually

G doesn’t you know, G is more often the one that takes them to school and to takes them to picks them up after school ’cause G doesn’t have as many meetings as mom and ’cause he doesn’t wear

Sami Kinnison (06:46)
She ’cause he doesn’t wear lipstick, you don’t

Angela Belford (06:49)
a little stick.

boy.

Sami Kinnison (06:51)
What do you what are you gonna do? I don’t know. It’s so

interesting though. And so I think that the stories that Peter is telling himself at four, where he’s like, I’m just trying to make sense of this, and not an I don’t know, I think a four year old you can really there’s no yeah.

Angela Belford (07:05)
There’s nothing yeah, there’s literally nothing negative and

no ill intent whatsoever. Just trying to understand this world I live

Sami Kinnison (07:13)
Yeah.

Angela Belford (07:14)
in.

Sami Kinnison (07:14)
Even he will make comments about like my body shape and size. And he’d be like, Your body’s kind of big. And I’m like, Well, I grew human humans. And he’s like, wasn’t that a while ago? Like, there’s just things where he’s that was a really rude comment. He’s Wasn’t actually I think that one was Henry in particular, not Peter, who was like, Didn’t you grow humans a

Angela Belford (07:30)
Wasn’t that a while ago? I’m sorry. Yep.

Sami Kinnison (07:33)
while ago? So why is your stomach still big? And I’m like

I was not prepared to answer this with the calm and presence that I would like to answer this. And so my response at that time was, Chris, get in here and get your kids. I’m getting dressed. Like, make them leave me alone.

Angela Belford (07:49)
I’m sorry.

I’m sorry. I’ve heard that story twice and it still makes me laugh. Because

you’re just like, out of the mouths of babes. I love your

Sami Kinnison (07:58)
Like great, thanks, pal.

Angela Belford (08:00)
follow up. You were like had to talk about how we don’t talk about other people’s body shapes. So and sorry. Yes, we had to mm.

Sami Kinnison (08:04)
We don’t need to talk about things they can’t change, in general. Well, it’s just like a polite way to be. But that is my my side note is that if

somebody has mustard on their face, you should tell them they have mustard on their face. They can change that. They can fix that about themselves. if somebody has a hair color or a body shape or or or something that they can’t you cannot change, we’re gonna let that be. Like we’re not gonna talk about it. We can just

Angela Belford (08:29)
That’s a good

clarifying point because I think everybody wants to go around and correcting people and

Sami Kinnison (08:35)
Yeah.

Angela Belford (08:35)
like that’s not how you should be and it’s like, Mm, that’s not yours to decide unless I got spinach in my teeth and then y I can fix that and I really should.

Sami Kinnison (08:41)
I got my my

shirt tucked into my underwear, my underwear showing. That’s a very common

Angela Belford (08:44)
Right. Yeah.

Sami Kinnison (08:46)
thing with my boys. like, not that a lot of the maybe the adults are doing that too, but like you can fix that. You can make it so your underwear is not on the outside. Anyway, so

Angela Belford (08:56)
Yeah.

Sami Kinnison (08:57)
the story we tell ourselves is how we make meaning in the world. And so when we talk about like, yes, what happened to you impacts who you are.

I think it is more true. This was my contrarian point. It is more true that the story you tell yourself about what happened to you helps to indicate

Angela Belford (09:14)
True.

Sami Kinnison (09:14)
who you are.

Angela Belford (09:15)
I actually I like that Clarita Clarify Clarity Clarifying.

Sami Kinnison (09:17)
I figured

Angela Belford (09:20)
Whatever. the second thing, the

Sami Kinnison (09:23)
Second thing.

Angela Belford (09:24)
second reason why I believe we should tell our stories is because often we don’t recognize our own growth. Like we’re living

Sami Kinnison (09:32)
Mm

Angela Belford (09:33)
it and we’re changing every day. And it’s a little bit like if you’ve ever been a parent and your kid is growing and growing and growing.

And you don’t notice it until you have to buy them new shoes or until like somebody who hasn’t seen them in months all of a sudden is like, my goodness, they’ve grown so much. And in the same way, I think we can be emotionally maturing and mentally maturing. And if we don’t ever pause and reflect back on, wow, look how far I’ve come. There’s actually a fabulous book that I love called The Gap in the Gain.

And he basically hypothesizes that so many of us are looking at the gap between where we are and where we want to be. And and that will never be closed because we will always move the fence post or the goal post. But

Sami Kinnison (10:22)
Mm-hmm.

Angela Belford (10:23)
if we will instead look at the gain and look at where we started to assess how much we have grown, not for the purpose of outrunning that belief, but just to recognize the growth.

then it actually is more motivating and it’s more inspiring.

Sami Kinnison (10:41)
that I think that that reflection something it’s a practice that you can build in regularly. I had a journal for a while that

One of the questions I would fill out each week was these are the days, dot dot dot. And it was like, these are the days of of what? And you would you would weekly write, what what are these the days of? And then monthly there would be a reflection of like this is the month of what? And then annually

Angela Belford (11:06)
Mm.

Sami Kinnison (11:08)
that was like, What happened this year? What are the stories that you want to remember and that you want to carry forward? And so I really liked having that journal.

And I will, I’ll link to it in the show notes, the Next Right Thing journal. And it was really helpful to articulate and to make it a practice of naming the stories as I’m

Angela Belford (11:28)
Mm-hmm.

Sami Kinnison (11:28)
living them, as I’m going through them. These are the days of summer, you know, I’m thinking about like at the end of July and August. Like these are the days of like bad bedtime routines and sweet snuggles and you know.

Playing in the water, sure, is also the days of meltdowns and and breakdowns from parents and kids alike. But I can help reframe to be like, no, it’s the summer days, like the dog days of summer is really what it was. I like having a practice that invites me to reflect on what’s happening this week, what’s happening this month, what’s happening this year, those kinds of things.

Angela Belford (12:05)
I love that.

Sami Kinnison (12:07)
number three, the reason we share our story is to help encourage and inspire others.

when other people are going through hard things, to know that somebody else has been through the same or similar hard thing and they have survived, I think can be really, really inspiring and encouraging. So often we can end up falling into the trap of feeling alone and isolated and that no one understands, no one gets what I’m going through.

It’s

possible that your exact situation is the most unique and no one else on the planet has ever experienced it. It’s also pretty unlikely that no one has experienced this thing before and or that people can’t understand. People may have experienced bits and pieces of this in another context and can say, like, this this sucks, and I can tell you about what my story was like going through this to hopefully give a little bit of inspiration. When I had

infants and was not sleeping through the night, I remember looking to my mom being like, You have three kids. I will probably sleep through the night sometime between now and 24 years from now. And you were so sweet and you were like, it’s probably sooner than 24 years from now. I was like, as long as there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Like, but knowing that other people have gone through this hard thing and have survived can be an encouragement and an inspiration.

There’s nuance to like, you know, just immediately somebody’s in a bad spot and be like, well, let me tell you how you get out of it. Sit with people, be with them. But I do

Angela Belford (13:41)
Sure.

Sami Kinnison (13:42)
think that telling our stories does help to share new perspectives and give that encouragement.

Angela Belford (13:49)
I think along those lines it also it can increase our empathy because

Sami Kinnison (13:53)
Yeah.

Angela Belford (13:53)
it’s easy for for me at my little quiet house that is empty, full empty nest now. Don’t even have a spare grandchild grand dog. so I have a pretty quiet house. I when I remember what it was like to have those one, three and six year old.

I can remember, I used to have a very loud house too. Like I can have some empathy for how hard that was. And I one of the things that my husband and I do that I appreciate about the way we do it is that there are times when when we are empathetic to our our sweet daughter.

And then when we like

Sami Kinnison (14:44)
Where’s this going?

Angela Belford (14:46)
when and we’re like, right, that that is so hard, baby. And then we’ll be like we’ll get in the car and just be the two of us and we’re like, my gosh, she has no idea. Like It was way harder than that for us and like we we don’t one up you to your face mostly.

Sami Kinnison (15:01)
Sure. Yeah.

Angela Belford (15:04)
maybe now and again we might tease you a little bit, you know, like, you think that’s bad?

‘Cause I think that is a temptation when when we’re sharing story. The temptation is to like, you think your s life is so hard. Let me tell you. That’s not what we’re saying. Like, that’s not at all.

Sami Kinnison (15:17)
I don’t think that

that does not lead to connection. That leads to more isolation, more distance, more comparison. It does not,

Angela Belford (15:20)
It doesn’t lead to connection. Right. Yeah.

Sami Kinnison (15:26)
you don’t sit next to somebody and say, I see you and put your arm around them. You sit across from them and compete with them in that moment.

And that

Angela Belford (15:32)
Right. Yeah.

Sami Kinnison (15:34)
is a thing that a lot of people do. And that that’s that doesn’t help. That doesn’t help anybody.

Angela Belford (15:37)
Yeah. That’s not that does not help.

Mm mm. No, and if somebody just because something is hard for somebody else, like some people will hear my story and they’ll be like, but my childhood is nothing like yours I’m like, it doesn’t matter. Like there’s no there’s no competition here. Like there’s no this is not the compassion Olympics.

Sami Kinnison (15:56)
There’s no trophy

for who had the worst childhood.

Angela Belford (16:00)
Or who’s had the worst day. Although I did recently had a a group of friends and we went to dinner and I was like, my gosh, I had a horrible day. And I looked across the table and I go, but I know what you’re going through and I can guarantee that your day was worse than mine. And I hate that because I really want to complain about my day. And she finally looked at me and goes, Tell me about your day.

Sami Kinnison (16:23)
Right.

Angela Belford (16:24)
Tell me about your day. And then I went,

And then somebody else goes.

Sami Kinnison (16:30)
What did you say?

Angela Belford (16:31)
And then somebody else was like, Well, actually, that helps me because here’s what happened with me. And kind of we all knew that this one friend of ours was just going through just really horrible. And so we all were trying to not at all. And and she felt so much better at the end. I give me the chance to be a good friend.

Sami Kinnison (16:49)
Mm.

Angela Belford (16:50)
Give me the chance to know what’s going on with you guys. And it was so funny because the at the end of it, we were like,

Man, we do need a trophy. Who had the worst day? And weirdly we had we had an opportunity to be in the same group of people were in a bigger group the next day. And so we were like, it felt s I f I had a much better day ’cause I shared it and it didn’t feel so hard.

Sami Kinnison (17:14)
And I think that the spirit

behind it was not competition, but coming to sit next to each other. And like, we all it doesn’t have to

Angela Belford (17:17)
No. No. Yes. I want to be empathetic.

Sami Kinnison (17:24)
write. It doesn’t have to be who I I want to feel better about myself because of whatever reason. Yeah.

Angela Belford (17:30)
Yes. Yeah.

No, one of them last night, different friend but the same group and I was like I was like I I don’t have real problem like you have real problems. Like your mom has had a stroke and you’re dealing with and she goes, Can you please just tell me about your like whatever you’re calling your not real problems? I’d rather talk about that than talk about my I’m I’m living my life. Like tell me about your silliness that it is

you know,

Sami Kinnison (17:56)
Yeah.

Angela Belford (17:57)
anyway, so we did. We talked about the silliness that I’ve like my sugar addiction that has gotten out of control this summer. So And so

Sami Kinnison (18:04)
What’s funny,

when I was in college, one of my dear friends Ashlyn, who’s been on the podcast with us, we talked about it in that like your cup of what you can handle. And freshmen in college, they would have like a little two ounce Dixie cup and be like, my gosh, my cup is so full. And Ashley and I would be sitting over here with like overflowing Route 44s. Like, you don’t even know what full is, hon. Like you have.

literally

no concept of what actual stress is. And and in the same way, we would talk to each other about our forty-four ounce cups. And to the person with the two ounce cup, we’d be like, that stinks, like that sucks. Tell me about your two-ounce cup. And I also know that like if you there were in that particular stance, they could not handle the the reciprocity of it. There was a little bit of like mentor mentee.

Like, nope, it is not my place to then dump out my forty four ounces on you and like drown you in your two ounce cup over here. But my friend with

Angela Belford (19:08)
There is one.

Sami Kinnison (19:09)
the forty four ounce cup, we were back and forth to helping each other out.

Angela Belford (19:13)
Now, there is one more version of that story that I is not my favorite human to spend a lot of time with, and that is somebody who has the two ounce cup and they happen to walk up to your 44 ounce story, and they’re like, you think that’s bad, and then they lay it on you, their little two ounces, and you’re like, and they’re trying to make their less impactful problem sound like make you feel.

bad about you you know what I mean? Like it’s this weird competition and and

Sami Kinnison (19:47)
I also have some

people who will be like, Well, you chose to have a forty-four ounce cup. So like

Angela Belford (19:52)
Yes. Like there’s

all kinds of versions of that that I’m just like, no, no, be be a better version of your and

Sami Kinnison (19:57)
And yeah,

and they’ll be like, well, you chose this life, you chose to live this way, so stop complaining about it. And I’m like, there’s a there can be a difference between complaining about my life and sharing the stories. And so maybe finding the right people to to do this. And yeah, that person who has the two ounce cup I am at a point where I’m like, oof, the insecurity is strong with this one. And

Angela Belford (20:23)
Yes. Yeah.

Sami Kinnison (20:25)
Can have the grace to just like, okay, if you need to win in the suffering thing today, you win. Congratulations. Does that make you feel better? I

Angela Belford (20:32)
Yeah. You win. Yeah. Yeah.

Sami Kinnison (20:37)
may not say it in that way out loud to them, but like that’s kind of my attitude of like, I’m I can, I don’t know. What’s so funny to me is that I think folks who have insecurities like really rampant, they’re like, nobody knows. Like,

Honey, those of us who are on our healing journey see it like miles away. You’re

Angela Belford (20:58)
No.

Sami Kinnison (21:00)
like, I don’t know how to I can I don’t know how to tell you that like your attempt to hide your insecurities is like you’re just like painting a big target on them that they exist. And I I don’t

Angela Belford (21:10)
Yeah, less.

Sami Kinnison (21:11)
wanna tell them that and be like, you know, you’re failing at hiding your insecurities, right? Like I think that would make them feel more insecure.

Angela Belford (21:17)
That is not the best version of

ourselves. That is the worst.

Sami Kinnison (21:20)
That is the version

of you and I getting in the car after the thing being like, whoo, we can you believe the insecurities. But

Angela Belford (21:27)
Yeah.

Sami Kinnison (21:27)
I’m not gonna say that to them in the same way that you and Dad don’t tell me like she doesn’t even know what what hard is. Like

there you go.

Angela Belford (21:34)
Yeah. and

there is an element where I love that you said that those of us on the healing journey, because I mean I remember when I was first getting my coaching certification, I would just tell people, my gosh, you know what your problem is? Like I giggle so much now because I’m just like, they didn’t want to know until they’re

Sami Kinnison (21:56)
They didn’t.

Angela Belford (21:57)
ready, they don’t want to know. But then when they come to me and they’re like,

I I’ll tell you a sweet story is that when I was a Mary Kay sales consultant, my mentor came to me and she goes, I don’t know if you know, but I wear this color eyeshadow and I’m like, Yeah, I know. What do you mean you know? Like my job is makeup. Of course I noticed what makeup that you were my god and like was the funniest thing. Like she was just shocked that I noticed her makeup. And I’m like, I wasn’t judging your makeup, I didn’t think it was bad or good or whatever. It sh I th I yes, yes, I know I noticed.

So when I noti when I see insecurity, I noticed. I’m not judging you, I’m not thinking you’re a bad person. I’m just like, I remember.

Sami Kinnison (22:39)
Okay, here

is a potential twist, though, on the story of like, you know, some people don’t want to know. You once

Angela Belford (22:45)
Mm.

Sami Kinnison (22:45)
had a person who was like, yeah, Angela’s ADHD ADD. And you were like, ha

Angela Belford (22:51)
Ha ha ha.

Sami Kinnison (22:51)
ha, that’s so funny. That’s ridiculous. That’s not real. And then like later,

Angela Belford (22:56)
that’s funny.

Sami Kinnison (22:57)
like came back later, and then we’re like, I think it was multiple years. Like it was not like a short time. Okay, but

Angela Belford (23:01)
No, it was about it was three months. It was about three months

later that I figured out that I had AD and I had to call her and go, Wait, wait, wait, was that a joke? And she said, No, I was I was a principal. I was on the diagnostic team. Like I know how to identify it. No, that was a that was a diagnosis for you. And I was like, She goes, You didn’t know.

Sami Kinnison (23:22)
So that’s right there is the

problem is that sometimes like I w when

Angela Belford (23:25)
Ha ha ha

Sami Kinnison (23:26)
occasionally I’m not trying to like share, you what you know where your problem is, but I’m like, yeah, like the perfectionism. Like, what are you talking about? Like, I’m a perfectionist, I’m like, I didn’t

Angela Belford (23:37)
Whoopsie.

Sami Kinnison (23:38)
I’m sorry, I thought we all knew and talked about it and like I didn’t know that you didn’t know. I didn’t mean

Angela Belford (23:45)
Mm.

Sami Kinnison (23:45)
to be the one to out that for you, but like, yeah, that’s the thing. anyways.

Angela Belford (23:50)
I know. That’s not what I thought.

I I got in worse trouble one time because somebody said, Angela, she doesn’t have a filter. Just you have to kind of ignore what she says and I go, no, no, no, I have a l a lot of filter. And they’re like, This much gets through the filter? Like how what kind of th it was better for me when they believed I had no filter. But the fact that that I filter a lot out and they that this still I’m like, Why are you not saying that it’s not big big screen, but anyway.

That’s what I thought you were gonna tell

Sami Kinnison (24:19)
No.

Angela Belford (24:19)
like.

Sami Kinnison (24:20)
Can I add one other point about sharing our stories and listening to

Angela Belford (24:22)
Do sharing your story.

Sami Kinnison (24:24)
stories? And when we were talking about 44-ounce cup, two-ounce cup, somebody wanting to listen to it, I think particularly around kids. Kids have like two ounce cups or definitely or smaller. And their really big stories compared to your adult life feel so tiny and like

irrelevant and and what is happening. And I think that there’s a quote I read a long time ago that says, listen to your kids when they tell you the little things. And when they get older, they’ll tell you the big things. Because to the kid it was always a big thing. And I think that that when you are the kind of person who can listen to somebody’s story with kindness and respect

And empathy, regardless of where you are and your capacity and their capacity, and like, okay, maybe they are that person. There is a lot of of of power and connection that can happen from honoring somebody’s story, even when it is a quote, small story. And I don’t think that there are small stories because I think that for the person it is a big story. And especially with kids.

You, Angela, talked about when we were growing up, we would want to tell you about the characters on the TV shows that we watched. And you were like driven mad by it. You’re like, if I wanted know about the whole plot of the TV show, I would have just sat down and watched the TV show and had to like work really hard to say, nope, this is something important that my kid wants to tell me right now. I’m gonna listen to what my kid wants to tell me. And it it matters to to be a safe space that somebody can tell their stories to.

I think for everybody, but especially for the kids in your life, like let them tell you their stories and the ridiculous things that are going on and what is happening. Peter tells us lots of stories. I will say occasionally I have to like, Is this a real story or is this a made up story? I can’t always tell because it’ll be things like we saw a unicorn at school and like, cool, made up story. And then it’ll be like somebody brought like a unicorn balloon to school, and it’s like, it was a real story. He just left out details that were important. Like, I saw a unicorn.

I saw a unicorn balloon. Okay, great. I it’s hard to tell sometimes, especially when they’re really little. I’m like, I think there there’s something in this, but I’m missing details. so that’s my my little extra bonus tip. Not a reason we share our stories, but a good tip on listening to stories and holding their value.

Angela Belford (26:57)
One more bonus tip. Matthew Dix has a book called Story Worthy. And in there he talks about a practice of doing homework for life where every single day you write down five little stories and you just write down enough that would fit like in an Excel document. And I have done this from time to time and I wish I would do it more.

But it is basically it helps you capture your life and and be able to remember and have meaning. And especially if you are the kind of person who is looking to be a public speaker or someone who is looking to write a book one day, you want to do consulting, capturing your stories is really important. It’s gonna be one of the major focuses of our new epic impact mastermind that we’ve

been talking about. And so

If you will consider doing homework for life, if you Google Matthew Dix, that’s also a fabulous book, that’s another way for you to be capturing your stories.

Sami Kinnison (27:56)
I love that. I hope that you are inspired to share your stories with somebody. Tell talk more about people and less about social media and news and things like that. And ask people for their stories. Ask them to tell you these different things. I promise you will get more connection and and you’ll get a good dopamine hit too, you know, from learning about other people. So why not? Win, win, win.

Thank you guys so much for listening, and we’re so excited that you’re here with us on the journey. Until next time, I hope you guys go be freaking awesome.