Tell me a story.....

Ever since I can remember, I've always wondered what I would say if someone said to me, "Tell me your life story."  How would I tell it?  Would I tell it in chronological order?  Would I start at the end, jump around between different time periods, and then come back to the present so the person I was sharing with could get a clear picture of just who I am?  Those questions also bring about further questions, like if my life were a movie, or an audiobook, who would narrate?  For me, James Earl Jones, hands down (If I could pick anyone).  If not, I would want my mom and dad to narrate my early years, up until high school, with guest narration from my good friends.  My teen years, I'd like to have my best friend Toby narrate that portion, with cameos from my Upward Bound friends, who were a huge part of my life in high school.  Since so much of my life has been centered around friends, I would probably want my years after high school to be narrated by my close friends living in Virginia, since I spent a lot of time with them talking, sharing, and experiencing life, and I feel they know me better than anyone (even better than I know myself.)

I've always felt like I've lived a pretty "straight-line" type of life.  I haven't strayed off the path much, haven't taken too many risks (at least I don't think so), and I've lived somewhat of a tamed existence.  I don't party like crazy,  I've never traveled overseas, haven't done anything really off the wall in my life.  It's for that reason that I've always felt that I don't have anything really interesting to talk about with anyone.  If that's the case, how could I ever talk to people?  What would I say? "Hi, my name is Jeremy, I work two jobs just to survive, and I miss out on a lot as a result of my bad choices?"  Who's going to want to have a long conversation with THAT guy?  Probably nobody.  I've always wanted to be able to tell a good story.  I love hearing stories, I love learning new things about people, and I love meeting new people and learning about their lives.  While I'm not the social butterfly like a lot of my friends, I do feel like I meet a good number of people, but with my recent work situation I'm not sure that can continue.

Back to the title of this blog....Tell me a story....I've been toying with an idea that I came up with a few weeks ago about something I could take on in the new year.  I wanted to try something that is so far out of my comfort zone, so typically not me, something I've never done before.  One of the things that I've always tried to do in my daily life is to try to learn more about myself.  Every interaction with another human being, as well as times when I'm alone, is an opportunity for me to learn more about me.  I can also learn more about myself when I'm with friends, or with people that I don't know, or with co-workers.  I came up with an idea of a goal -- to try to meet one new person every day -- for an entire year.  Now, I haven't nailed down the criteria for this yet, and I should because the end of the year is right around the corner.  What I'd like to do is meet one new person every day for all of 2013, and have each person share a story with me.  If I could take an hour out of each day to learn something new about another person that lives in my community, it's well worth it.  The majority of our interactions with others are random, and the interaction is short-lived.  What I hope to do is maybe leave an impression with others, and learn more about the people around me, and in turn, learn more about myself in the process.  Learn more about my views on certain things, how I perceive others and their situations, and how I perceive those that are different from me in general.

So regarding my goal of wanting to be able to tell a good story, I believe that learning about others' stories, helps us tell our own a little bit better.  I hope to embark on this journey with an open mind, and a clear heart.  I do start a lot of things but do not finish them, but I'm looking forward to trying this, and at least putting forth some effort.

Until next time....

What's Your Motivation?

mo·ti·va·tion

[moh-tuh-vey-shuhn]

1.  The act or an instance of motivating,  or providing with a reason to act in a certain way: I don't understand what her motivation was for quitting her job. Synonyms: motive, inspiration, inducement, cause, impetus.

2.  The state or condition of being motivated: We know that these students have strong motivation to learn.

3.  Something that motivates;  inducement; incentive: Clearly, the company's long-term motivation is profit.

So, with that said, what's your motivation?  What is it that drives you to do what you do? To do better? To make others feel better, to drive others to be like you? To accomplish something greater than yourself, and to pass that motivation on to others?