January’s theme is “It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.”

I’ve always liked this phrase because it feels like another way of telling myself that I did my best. Instead of saying, “What was I thinking?” or “How could I have been so stupid?” or my usual goto line when I’m laying in bed staring at the ceiling, “What kind of an idiot would do such a thing?” I get to say, “Hey, you did your best with what you had in front of you.”

Luckily, a lot of things that I thought were huge mistakes right after they happened turned out to be okay later on. Maybe the reason I keep coming back to this phrase is because I need to remember to stop freaking out so much and trust that things are almost never as bad as they seem. Maybe all of my missteps and mess ups actually were good ideas and they just need more time. I’ve heard it’s possible that, with enough patience and the right amount of body English, we can change the trajectory of a mistake into something positive. That’s what the self-help books on my nightstand say and those late-night Amazon book purchases always seem like a good idea at the time.

No matter how your good-idea-at-the-time adventure turned out we’d love to hear the story. Bring a true 8-minute-or-less story based on that theme to our next show on January 25, 7pm at Roy Street Coffee and Tea.

Remember your stories need to have a beginning, middle and an end, and for FGS you to keep it clean. Most importantly, practice your story out loud as much as possible. Here are the rules & guidelines to help you get started.

https://freshgroundstories.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

Write me if you have any questions.

See you on January 25th!

Paul
freshgroundstories@gmail.com