This past week I had the honor of presenting a session at Wisconsin’s Board for People with Developmental Disabilities, Self-Determination Conference. Their theme was “Everyone Has a Story”. I was asked to share how I wrote my book.
I sat with how to present this and how to explain it for quite some time. What would I say, how would I say it? It came to me, just start writing a chapter.
An outline appeared. Then the dreaded PowerPoint showed up. I worked hard to write this chapter with a heartfelt goal of encouraging my participants to do the same.
I shared how my experiences became stories without even realizing they were stories. I talked about how our experiences have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Then, a new experience will show up.
We talked about describing an experience, so to help set the stage I described mine. I put myself in my middle where I shared my pain, sorrow, anger, and my many happy and motivating times. At the end, I smiled and shared how my experiences have become the best things that ever happened to me.
I arranged a work sheet asking; what experience would they like to write about, how did it impact them, and what did they learn. Off they went to write their chapter.
Each of us who were in that room experiences disability. What these amazing people wrote about, and how it was described was nothing short of astonishing. Some read their chapter, they were raw, and they were real, and they connected each of us together.
What I recognized were the similarities in their descriptions and their feelings, but most of all – they shared their stories with positive tones. They each wrote how their life is magical and they want to teach others that theirs is too. Each and every one of their stories touched me with deep emotion, I feel it still.
How very fortunate I am to now have a fabulous new experience to write about. The beginning, the middle, but one that will never end because what I was privileged to experience will always be a part of my new chapters.
