192: On Knowing When Your Story is Ready to Be Told

I remember watching this really famous speaker once tell a story that I KNEW she wasn’t ready to tell yet. It was too much - too powerful, still - still too emotionally raw… 

(And I’ve also seen speakers who are so far beyond their stories - that it doesn’t have any emotional resonance left. They’ve told it too many times, it’s lost its power for them… there’s no emotive connection left. It’s been used up. )

What struck me was that she was telling the story because she NEEDED to. It was a part of HER healing. And that’s not nothing. 

Would I recommend it? Nope…. 

There are those stories that we’re just not ready to tell yet because we ourselves aren’t healed enough. Listen to that instinct. It may not be ready yet. It might be too raw. 

So how do we know when a story is ready to be told?