Welcome to Learning Event #5 (#LE5) for #WalkMyWorld 2021. In this journey we’ll think about the story of you…told from past, present, and future.
#WalkMyWorld #LE5 –
A Turning Point
As you identify the arc of your story, which story are you currently living?
In LE4, we considered story arcs and wrote about the shape of your story. Humans love stories because they sometimes give us a sense of purpose, meaning, and shape in our lives.
Stories are generally considered to be a narrative of connecting events (either actual or imaginary) presented in a sequence of written or spoken words…in still or moving images. You charted out the shape of your story and wrote a bit about what you found.
As we examine our own lives, we can usually identify times that we’ve experienced a turning point or roadblocks of some kind. If we continue to think of our lives as a story, these turning points are usually identified as the climax of the narrative.
How do you stick around after the turbulence?
The challenge in relating this to our own lives is knowing that the outcome could be positive or negative after the turning point. There is also the challenge of identifying the climax of our story as we’re still living it. It’s also hard to foretell the future and know whether the outcome will be positive or negative before the conclusion of our story.
As you consider a turning point in your life that you’d like to share, please review the video below about Steven Claunch and how he overcame obstacles.
You can review the TED Talk version of this video here. I prefer the version with Steven himself.
WRITE
Take out the shape of your story that you drew up for LE4.
Think of the chain of events in your own story up to this point. What turning point or roadblock sticks out to you? What challenges have you overcome? Use your voice and the sounds of your world to illustrate the anomalies of your narrative. How could you use sound to define the trials and tribulations you’ve encountered?
Circle one point of time on the shape of your story. Take a couple of minutes and describe what you see there. Provide details about the who, what, where, when, why, and perhaps how.
Write a poem that shares your response and more context about a turning point in your life. Be as honest or veiled in your response as you would like.
The challenge in relating this to our own lives is knowing that the outcome could be positive or negative after the turning point. There is also the challenge of identifying the climax of our story as we’re still living it. It’s also hard to foretell the future and know whether the outcome will be positive or negative before the conclusion of our story.
Keep in mind that you may be trapped in the system as you are told you belong in one and shown you don’t belong in the other.
CONNECT
After you finish your poem…share this out with others.
You should share this out on Twitter as Write.As using the hashtag #WalkMyWorld. You should also include the hashtag #LE5 to indicate your response to this second learning event.
Present your piece in our semi-private group in Flipgrid. Send me an email and I’ll bring you in.
Enjoy and connect with each other online.
Graffiti flickr photo by thorinside shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
