This is how I think being a storyteller differs from being a writer.
Ten months ago, I got a part-time job working for an impressive and amazing entrepreneur.
She has multiple business ventures, is a frequent guest on podcasts, webinars, and seminars – and I am pretty certain she never stops coming up with new ideas.
And she calls herself a storyteller.
When I started to experience just what that meant – it dawned on me that I can apply it to myself, too.
Is storyteller sufficiently different from a writer or author to be applied to me? I believe so.
As my personal website subheading goes –
Writer / Editor / Voice Artist / World-Builder
I think that storyteller by itself sums this up rather well.
And what’s more – storytelling is in my blood. It is like oxygen to me. Part of my lifeblood is about expressing myself via storytelling in lots of ways – above and beyond my website subheadings.
Also, it’s a very cool term that I think should be employed more.
Why does storyteller work?
Almost everything that I do is artistic in one form or another. Writer, editor, voice artist, world-builder, podcaster, website layout creator, blogger, amateur photographer – all of this is art.
While the main focus of my work is on writing – I do other arts. And in all that I do, first and foremost, I tell stories.
I love to tell stories. I think that’s a big part of why I enjoy podcasting as I do – it lets me tell stories with my voice. That gives me a whole new realm of nuance and inflection that writing lacks.
As an instructor, I am a storyteller. Whenever I teach someone new the arte of medieval fencing, I generally wind up telling the story of why the stance I teach is how it is, why we hold the blade a certain way, and so on.
With my new forthcoming speaking venture, I will be telling the story of Pathwalking. Both explaining my philosophy and how anyone and everyone else can employ it in their lives, too.
Thus, telling the story is a natural part of how I do all that I do.
This is why storyteller works as my overall descriptive. Because it’s not just the arts I do – but everything that I do.
Isn’t life just a bunch of stories?
I am nearly 50 years old now. In the half-a-century that I have lived in this body, I’ve had both incredibly good experiences and terrible bad experiences.
Among the good, I’ve loved, seen amazing cities, met incredible people, tasted wondrous food, smelled flowers, watched the sun rise and set, felt the icy pool while swimming in a waterfall, heard unforgettable music, and much more. And the stories I can tell would fill volumes.
I’ve also had many bad experiences. I’ve been fired from jobs, dumped, shunned, had numerous bones broken in multiple ways, failed an enterprise, screwed up lots of relationships, been stung by bees, arrested, hit by a car while crossing a street, burned, suffer from clinical depression, and much more. And the stories I can tell would fill even more volumes.
But that’s life. Sweet and sour, good and bad, hot and cold – that’s life. And the stories we can tell from living life opens the way to becoming storytellers.
I know that not everyone can relay a story and make it at all interesting. But that’s why I treasure the title Storyteller as I do, and wear it like a badge of honor when I tell you that’s what I am.
But – and this is in part a reminder to myself – it’s not my end-all-be-all identity.
Storyteller is a job title for me
We are never our job. It may be a huge, ginormous part of our lives. But we are not our jobs.
Doctor, lawyer, teacher, engineer, writer, painter, office worker – all of these are job titles. And while I tend to use author or writer – my true vocation is storyteller.
This means that sometimes that is not who I am. It’s what I do. And though it’s a huge part of how I identify myself – it’s my job title, not every aspect of who I am.
Why does this matter? Because I think when we get so caught up in labels we lose ourselves.
We forget our selves, our goals, our hopes, and our dreams in these labels. Because more often than not other labels get attached to them – and they, too, create us in sometimes less-than optimum ways.
Then we’re someone who is not the true person we desire to be. And the story it tells is not the true story.
But then the rote and routine kicks in. The subconscious mind does the driving. And we become that which we’ve labeled ourselves to be.
This is why recognizing the separation of our job title from our self-identity is so important. It provides us with ways to be and grow beyond where we have been – and most importantly – where we are now.
I am a storyteller. But that’s not the whole story of who, what, where, how, or why I am. That’s my job. And though it’s an enormous part of my greater whole – and encompasses a lot – by no means is it all of me.
This is my truth
But then, when all is said and done, this is not just my truth. It’s the truth for pretty much everyone.
The greater whole my creativity falls into is the category of storyteller – including but not limited to writing. That is my job title – and while that’s a huge part of me it’s not all of me.
But the part of me that this represents is pretty damned awesome. I’m proud to call myself a storyteller.
It does often wend its way into other aspects of who I am and what I do. But keeping in mind that it’s but one – albeit important – aspect of myself helps me detach from it when necessary.
Why? Because some stories belong to only me. And there is nothing selfish or egotistical in that statement. Recognition of this truth lets me find and/or create balance to make choices and decisions for guiding my life on the paths I choose for it.
I have told many stories. There are many stories that I have not yet told. And I imagine there will be even more stories to come. I tell my stories in ways that go beyond what I do as a writer. And that is how I see that a storyteller differs from a writer.
I think the world can never have too many storytellers in it.
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