About 365 Days - 365 Stories
We are all hustling through our lives. Can we even afford to slow down?
Slow down with Stories
In 2022, I picked up a year long project of writing Story Prompts.
I am talking about the time when GPT was still in the making, we had not fully experienced the influence of prompt engineering.
Writing ‘prompt’s for me was a manual hand-crafted exercise.
In all my workshops, I was asked, “Where do I find stories to tell?”
“Why, your own life of course! There is so much you have seen and experienced, no one has the stories that you carry in your bag!” I would say.
“But we don’t remember those stories. Moreover are all of them relevant? Who cares for my stories?” I understand storytelling is seen as self-indulgence.
And so, I had this wild wild dream of enabling people to spend time with their stories.
With social media, the outward appeal of visibility, recognition and validation, I dreamt of enabling a small moment of introspection, reflection and acknowledgment.
If only we could look within, and reflect on WHO we truly are.
After all, there are 3 kinds of stories:
1️⃣ Stories we Tell Ourselves
2️⃣ Stories we Tell Others
3️⃣ Stories Others Tell about Us
Going through the 3 layers of stories is like peeling off the layers of the onion.
I felt the need myself.
Who am I? What makes me me? What drives me to be the human that I am?
I generally look at myself as a person who is well-connected to herself, confident & secure in being the outlier. Despite that I felt I needed a stronger thread to weave my life, my perspective & my purpose in life.
So that when my son asks, “What is the purpose of life?” I can give a story of finding MY purpose and letting him gather the clues to finding his own.
And thus was born 𝟯𝟲𝟱 𝗗𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝟯𝟲𝟱 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, a project to WRITE & GATHER stories from my life.
In 2022, I built this project in the open, sharing story prompts on social media, mostly through Your Story Bag
The prompts have made their way into several workshops and trainings, triggering stories & LIVE exercises.
These prompts have made their way into my writing in Through the Storyteller’s Glasses on Substack.
The prompts are direct, some carry hints, some take you back to specific moments in your life, others require you to scan your life’s memories. Some prompts are universal (at least that’s how I tried writing them), some may be MORE true for specific people.
What’s common between all the prompts is that carry deep meaning and relevance. If you find the tenacity & resilience to Recall, Retrieve, Rewrite & Revisit every story, I guarantee you will be a different person.
With time I have realised that some of us don’t like to spend as much time with themselves as they like spending time with others.
Maybe it’s intimidating? Or too boring!
So while there are 365 Story Prompts, I do not expect everyone to sit with a story everyday. It can lead to fatigue, I agree. So the prompts are there, just like a daily reminder to go for a brisk walk, or a jog, or work out…a small act of working inwards to strengthen who we are outside.
1. Why a Newsletter?
Before you sign-out, let me warn you! This will be a Daily Newsletter! A daily drop in your inbox, a small reminder to slow down with stories. I don’t know about you, but I like to READ my newsletters. Subscribe ONLY if you like the idea of daily newsletter. Paid Subscribers can get weekly-digests / exclusive access to a month of prompts & other benefits.
2. What kind of community are you looking to build here
You will be a subscriber if you like the idea of ‘slow life’. You could be a writer looking to work on your daily writing habit, or someone who wants to have meaningful conversations through stories. You could be looking to add personal stories in your speaking engagements, or someone who wants to gather friends and family for delightful storytelling evenings. With 365 Days - 365 Stories, you will never run out of stories!
3. Paid Subscribers
365 Days - 365 Stories is a FREE Newsletter at the time-being. You can choose to be a PAID Subscriber to get early-access to quarterly prompts, storytelling community meetups, events and workshops hosted by Your Story Bag.
4. Celebrate Slow-Life!
If you like the idea of ‘slow-life’ you will enjoy this Subtack. If you use our prompts, in writing, networking, dinner table conversations, social media, meetings and public events, do let me know! I’d love to read / listen to your story and engage with it.
5. Follow the Sound of Stories
365 Days - 365 Stories was developed at Your Story Bag. The IP and content still belongs to YSB.
3 years later, you can follow my work on Instagram and LinkedIn.
I also write Through the Storyteller’s Glasses on Substack.