The stories we tell about our lives, and the way we tell them, can lift us up or weigh us down. Even difficult stories can hold hope, inspiration, and meaning, depending on how we relay them. This worksheet invites you to retell one chapter of your history that was hard but ended in a gift, insight, skill, or other blessing.
Before you begin, choose a story from your past that you feel comfortable revisiting and that led to something meaningful. If a memory feels too heavy, you can pick a lighter one, or explore it with a counselor. Your story might be:
- Something you struggled with that eventually led to a breakthrough
- A lesson you had to learn the hard way, but that proved fruitful
- A difficult decision you made in order to follow your heart
- A goal or pursuit that asked you to let go of something or risk something
The practice in the worksheet has five steps:
- Write out the details of what happened: who, what, where, when, and why, as if you were turning it into a short novel.
- Explore the difficulties. What challenging emotions came up, and what did you need to surrender, move through, or embrace?
- Notice when the story began to shift from difficulty to opportunity and growth, and which resources, inside or outside you, helped.
- Consider what it was like to reach the light at the end of the tunnel: the emotions, insights, lessons, and skills.
- Reflect on doing the exercise. How did breaking the story into parts change your perception of what happened, and what did it reaffirm for you?
