Choosing Me: My Story and the Power of Telling Yours

Shift-Starters

One of my favorite songs is from the second act of Hamilton called “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?” It just gets me in the gut every time I listen to it. Not just because I’m a fan of musicals: it’s also because I resisted telling my story for so many years. Despite having the platform to share my knowledge and wisdom in psychology, leadership, and personal development, I was reluctant to share the experience that made me... me. I didn’t believe I was someone who had a story to tell, nor that I was qualified to tell one.

Fortunately, life stepped in and taught me the magic of storytelling.

In this episode, I share a deeply personal story about my gender identity. I then discuss the power of storytelling and how it impacts both the storyteller and the listener. I explain how we sometimes avoid stepping into our truth just so we can satisfy society’s expectations of us. I also describe how you can pick up some wisdom you may have overlooked from your life experience and how you can use it to connect with humanity.

“The first person who’ll convince you that your story matters is you.” - Erin Baker

This week on Shift-Starters:

• Why I used to hesitate about sharing my story with the world
• How creating an authentic, inclusive, and equitable world starts with working on our own authenticity
• A childhood conundrum and how I knew I was different
• My experience with getting bullied in middle school and high school
• How we sometimes fear discovering our own truth
• My college years and stepping out of society’s box
• Discovering and embracing the non-binary identity
• Claiming my connection to my body and how I decided to get surgery
• The fear of “what if…” versus the fear of “what if I don’t…” and the importance of choosing yourself
• How getting surgery changed my life
• What “affective forecasting” means and how being in my truth brought me closer to people
• How being your most authentic self can be the most powerful thing you can do for your mission
• Creating a timeline of your life and recollecting the wisdom of your experiences
• The magic and power of storytelling

Let’s Start Some Shift!

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