The reason I’ll never skydive isn’t that I’m worried that the chute won’t open and the ground crew will find my body, feet sticking up out of the grass like a lawn dart. It’s that I don’t like being told what to do. And as soon as you step out of the plane, gravity tells you exactly what you’re going to do for the next 10-15 minutes. There’s no discussion, no listening to reason. You’re going to be falling at 176 feet per second until you pull that cord.
That’s why it’s always interesting to me how I react when I’m truly out of control. I like to go back and think about why I did what I did. I was proud of myself a few years ago when I had to give the Heimlich to a guy choking next to me at a lunch counter. I stood up, knocked his gut in a couple times, then sat down and went back to my omelet.
I wasn’t proud of myself when I broke my hand punching a wall at 19, when I found out my girlfriend was stepping out on me. I also wasn’t proud of myself when I had a complete mental breakdown in 2012, when the world fell out from under me. I told that story two years later. It ended with a moment in my kitchen that brought me back to life and made me want to see what happened next. I’m still thinking about that time, and hope I’ve learned enough skills that it doesn’t happen again.
I’d love to hear about a time when you or your life were out of control and how you made it through. How did you act in the moment? Were you cool as a Bering Sea ice floe or did you lose your mind and kick a bunch of rocks? Were you dumped? Fired? Evicted? Given a diagnosis? How did you react in the moment and how did you find your way back to Chillsville?
Whatever the story, we’d love to hear it. Remember that a story isn’t just a series of things that happened. There needs to be something at stake that you overcome by the end.
Practice the story out loud to as many people as possible and time yourself when you’re doing it. Please don’t get onstage if you haven’t practiced your story. The audience is giving you their time and attention. It’s not fair to them if you get up there and try to wing it.
All stories have to be under eight minutes. Stories can be as short as you want, but no longer than eight minutes. Stories also have to be clean in both language and content. Send me an email if you have any questions about that.
FGS themes are just suggestions, so you can come out and tell a story about anything as long as it follows our usual rules and guidelines.
Our free monthly online workshop is a great place to get feedback on your story.
I’m also happy to help anyone with a story they’re working on. Email me, and we can set up a phone call.
See you Thursday, May 21, at 7 pm on the top floor of the Seattle Swedish Club, 1920 Dexter Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
Paul
Freshgroundstories at gmail dot com
Fresh Ground Stories 