I have to tell you I’m a little nervous about this one. My son came up with it and has been bugging me to make it an official theme for a few months now. You can understand my dilemma. I’ve always encouraged him to say yes to things he’s scared of and to speak what needs to be spoken even if it hurts. Of course, I thought we had an agreement that he should only do that when it didn’t involve me. After everything I’ve done for him he makes me take my own medicine? But I’m going to make this the theme for our next show and have faith that whatever he says about me or his mother is something that needs to be said. In public. With a microphone. What could go wrong? Depending on how it goes, our next show will either be about trust or retribution. That was a joke. I trust him. Mostly.

So bring us a story about a time you realized your parents were human. Or about a time when you failed as a parent yourself. There’s a lot underneath stories like this. Realizing your parents are human is the first step in growing up and realizing they were people before they were parents. Falling from grace yourself often completely changes the relationship you have with your own kids. If you’re lucky it gets stronger. That’s how I try to look at it anyway. My kid still probably hasn’t forgiven me for the time I chased his cat around the house with squirt bottle because she pooped in my hat.

The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later. I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, August 28, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

Please do your best to keep your stories under 8 minutes. The tighter everyone’s story the more people we can get onstage 🙂

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Paul
freshgroundstories@gmail.com.

 

Fresh Ground Stories: Being Humbled

 

So far this year I think I’ve been humbled about 173 times. That may seem like a lot but it’s less than my personal record setting pace last year where I ended up being humbled approximately every 15 minutes for 365 days straight. This includes sleeping. If there was a bump in Pfizer stock last year it was probably from my personal intake of Zoloft.

 

The good thing about all this is that I made it. A big part of making it was deciding I had to tell the story. I knew the last step was to try to make something beautiful out of the worst time in my life.

 

And that is what I’m asking you to do. Dig down into your secret stash of comeuppances and tell us about a time you were humbled. Tell us how you got through it and what you learned from it. I know this is a hard one but it’s going to be worth it. Every story you tell at this show will make it easier for someone in the audience to deal with their own humbling experiences. There’s nothing like shared embarrassments to make us all feel better, right?

 

Let’s hear it for the learning things the hard way! Humblefest 2014!

 

The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later.

 

I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, July 24, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

 

Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

 

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

 

Paul

freshgroundstories@gmail.com.

Isn’t it exciting when you figure something out for the first time? Just this week I discovered that if you keep a Qwest technician on the phone long enough they’ll finally just give up and send you a free modem. This afternoon I learned from my trainer that instead of starving myself to get a six-pack I should “learn to love my body” whatever that means. My internet connection is still spotty so I haven’t been able to Google that phrase.

Next month’s theme is about things we’ve discovered or maybe uncovered. Did something happen once that brought out courage you didn’t know you had? Did you find out from the neighbors that your house used to be owned by a famous Gazpacho crime boss? Was your mother a spy for the Allies in WWII? Did you come to find out after years of self-loathing that you’re actually a kind and generous person and not the selfish punk your mother said you were?

It’s a big theme. Almost any story could fit. Discovery (self and otherwise) has been a big theme for me the past year or two and it’s time I start asking other people what kind of discoveries they’ve been dealing with.

The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later.

I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, June 26, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Paul

freshgroundstories@gmail.com

 

I’ve never been very good at bouncing back. I have a hard time even relating to people who “move on” or “have no regrets.” No regrets?! Seriously? I’m still regretting the Toyota Camry I bought in ‘92. Most of my life has been spent muttering “if only” instead of “what if?”

Lately, though, things are beginning to change. Last year I had to decide whether I was going to cave in or rise above. I chose to rise above. It was a pretty weird feeling at first. Choosing gratitude over regret is totally unnatural for me. It was like learning to eat left-handed. But now, a year and a half later, it feels kinda ok. Like maybe I can keep doing it. My friend Jill said once, “It’s not the baggage you carry but the way you carry your baggage.” Jill’s pretty smart. She says stuff like that. So now I get to choose if I drag the baggage behind me or throw it in the air and learn to juggle.

And that, Fresh Ground Story people, is what we’re looking for next month. Tell us a story about hitting bottom and bouncing back. Lose your job? Your car? Your wife? Your mind? I know the mistakes you made are probably embarrassing but I’ll bet you anything someone in the audience has been there too and would love to hear how you pulled through.

Don’t forget, in an effort to get more people onstage, we’re shaving the time down to 8 minutes. So practice your story on friends and pets to make sure it’s somewhere between 5-8 minutes long.

The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later. I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, May 22, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Paul
freshgroundstories@gmail.com.

 

This may not come as a surprise to anyone but I’m pretty non-confrontational. In fact, if I had a superpower it would probably be my ability to pretend something isn’t happening. Relationship going off the rails? Oh, we’re just going through a rough patch. Car sounds worse after I get it back from the mechanic? Oh, it’s probably just a rock in the tire. People often mistake this attitude for some kind of zen-like acceptance. Nope. I just have a special talent for emotional procrastination.

 

Luckily, you guys get to show me what I’ve been missing all these years. April’s show is about confronting something or someone in your life. Was it the neighbor whose dog won’t keep it in his yard? Was it the idea you got when you were a kid that you weren’t good enough?

 

Every day we have to decide if we should confront something we’d rather not. Think back to a time when you just couldn’t take it anymore and did something about it.

 

Whatever your story is, come by Roy Street April 24th and tell us about it.

 

Don’t forget, in an effort to get more people onstage, we’re shaving the time down to 8 minutes. So practice your story on friends and pets to make sure it’s somewhere between 5-8 minutes long.

 

The rules for stories are below but you know the kind we’re looking for: true stories that happened to you that still mean something to you days, months or years later.

 

I hope to see you at our next show on Thursday, April 24, 7:00pm at the Roy St Cafe.

 

Rules & Guidelines: https://freshgroundstories.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/storytelling-rules-and-guidelines/

 

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

 

Paul

freshgroundstories@gmail.com.