I recently watched part of a TED Talk with Dave Isay, who believes, “Everyone around you has a story the world needs to hear”. He founded StoryCorps, an organization that invites friends, loved ones, and strangers to tell their stories, with the hope to offer moving and surprising glimpses into the hearts of often marginalized and forgotten subjects. People are interviewed and recorded and these ‘interviews’ are forever archived for future generations.

For some reason, this stuck with me.

And it got me thinking….

We do all have a story. In fact, we all have many stories. Stories that define who we are. Unique to each of us. Stories that connect us together.

Stories of how we have evolved through our life. From our childhood to now, and everything in between. How these experiences have shaped who we are today. The good and bad.

Stories of love. The joys and challenges. And the truths of what makes a marriage strong. About finding our soul mate. And how they have taught us to become a better version of ourselves.

Stories of becoming a parent. Raising children not having any clue what the hell we are doing. How we felt when we first saw our child come into the world. And how we appreciate our parents so much more since becoming one ourselves (thanks mom and dad, seriously). How being a parent changes us. And not having any clue what we used to do on weekends before them.

Stories of building new friendships and how it becomes harder as we get older. Or how we experience loss and how to move on with the absence of a whole heart. And how the hell we teach this ‘part of life’ to our children.

The stories of our careers. How we maybe didn’t become what we wanted to be when we “grew up”. But that was okay.

Stories of experiencing illness. About feeling scared. Angry. Defeated. And sad. And then picking ourselves back up and finding purpose in it all.

Dave’s story reminded me of something important.

It reminded me that sharing our stories are important. That listening to each others’ stories helps us become better. That all of our stories matter.

Sharing our stories connect us together. Sharing and listening reminds us how strong we really are. Especially when we don’t feel it. And it gives us hope that we aren’t alone.

Life is challenging enough on its own. It spreads us thin and sees us cry. It holds us back and watches us fail. But life also picks us back up to try again. It accepts us for who we are and empowers us to own our path.

For me, sharing our stories, our truths, gives us perspective and connects us together. Maybe, we don’t need the world to hear our stories.

But we most certainly all have a story to tell.

A story that connects us. And tells us we’re okay.

And isn’t that what life is all about?