“If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.
But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either”
- Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Alright - So truth be told, this has nothing to do with the Olsen Twins and their early 90s hit movie, “It Takes Two”. It has everything to do with stories.
We’re all living out and creating stories. Stories that will be told in some form for generations. Stories that we’ll get to tell. Stories our families will get to tell. Stories that co-workers, acquaintances, and perhaps even complete strangers may one day tell. Stories shape our lives and the lives around us. They help us make sense of life, help us understand others, and help us share knowledge with one another.
But sadly, not enough people know how to live and tell a “good” story.
Telling a good story and being a good storyteller goes beyond knowing how to orate the story. Being a good storyteller requires us to wrestle with our “why”, and to understand how anger, grace, love, acceptance, pain, suffering, etc., shape who we are and our stories.
And that’s the goal of this new 3rd F opportunity - helping one another understand what it takes to be a better storyteller - or better stated - how to live out a better story.
Proposed Structure
This will be an ongoing 3rd F opportunity that you can join in on at any time.
When/Where
- Every 2nd and 4th Monday of each month - First meeting on September 13th.
- Peaches House - Address will be posted in Carpex Slack Channel
- 7:00-8:00 p.m.
- B.Y.O.O. C (Bring Your Own Outdoor Chair)
What
- We will be working through various topics, discussions, books, articles, etc - all pointed towards storytelling and living out our stories. This is a work in progress and topics will be posted once solidified.
- The 1st Meeting will be an introduction to stories, storytelling, and understanding our “why”.
- The general format will be the Q sharing a 5-8 minutes story, Q&A& dialogue, and likely others sharing relevant story (Note: This can change given the topic and scope of the week).
How to Stay in the Know
- Join the new Slack channel - #3rdf-itt
Commitment
- There’s no real commitment in terms of being present every meeting. The big commitment is that you come ready to be vulnerable, open to all opinions, slow to speak and quick to listen.
Why “It Takes Two”?
“It Takes Two” is taken from Thoreau, who had said, “It takes two to understand - one to speak and one to listen and understand.”
See ya on the 13th! HC on the Slack Channel.
Let’s live out a better story together!
- Peaches