What’s in a story?
I had a realization today during my run (which was also a motivating reminder of why I run - running is a moving meditation, a chance to clear my mind so that a-ha moments can finally make their way in).
I love stories that tell stories. Okay I know that sounds obvious, but hear me out.
I love stories used as a medium to explain or comment on something deeper, something that is less tangible than the story itself and requires narrative as a vehicle to examine that deeper concept, like identity. It’s why I’m drawn to memoirs, personal narratives, and fiction: they tell stories but it’s not really about the story — it’s about the bigger themes and ideas that are slowly drawn out over the course of the narrative, so expertly woven into the narrative that you are able to slowly come to the realizations that the writer wanted you to have, to more deeply examine whether the story is just a story or about something more.
This is why I love to travel and why I took an intentional break from my career: I use the world as a lens to more deeply examine who I am and to better understand the people who coexist with me in this world that has a beautiful diversity of cultures, backgrounds, and histories. After all, our entire lives are based on human connection, whether that’s building a local community or growing a global business. For me, connecting with people and understanding how their worlds drive and shape their beliefs, actions, and dreams is critical to satisfying my curiosity. I’m obsessed with understanding people and learning their stories - not just absorbing their story but also reflecting on how they tell it, understanding what experiences shape them to who they are today and what insights drive who they’ll be tomorrow, what core beliefs are woven throughout their story and maybe even reflecting that back to them.
For me, travel is a method to more deeply examine and understand people. I use the world as a lens to understand not just who I am and what I’m made up of, and my identity, but also what makes up others, using travel as a way to better understand myself, my story, my heritage, my future, and a way to observe, examine, and mull culture and humans.
Maybe this is why I love reading so much. Despite having already traveled extensively, I know I’ll never be able to explore all of the world in its entirety and understand its millions of individual people and stories, so I turn to stories. Books that will transport me to places and fill me with experiences I might not be able to create on my own, get to understand more people’s perspectives and ways of thinking, broaden my view of what is, what has been, and what is possible. I’ll dedicate hours of my day to reading, voraciously devouring books on the train, in my bed, and even while walking on the street. I’m constantly adding books to my TBR (“to be read”) shelf and it actually deeply pains me to know that I’ll never be able to read every book I want because more and more come out each year.
Recently I’ve been recommending a book called Counterfeit by Kirsten Chen. It’s a fictional novel that takes place in modern-day America and is about two Chinese friends, one ABC (American-born Chinese) and one fob (fresh off the boat), who build a counterfeit empire. They purchase designer handbags from brick-and-mortar stores and import realistic fakes from China at a fraction of the designer price, then return the fakes to the store (getting back the money, so they’re at net zero) and sell the legitimate handbags online at designer prices (pocketing the revenue). It’s entertaining and easy to read, and it could be easily be misconstrued as “just a beach read”, but it’s so much more. Counterfeit is also a commentary on what it means to be American and what it means to achieve the American Dream.
It’s not just about the story, it’s about the story underneath the story. Stories, whether written, spoken, or filmed, have the power to move us. They transform us, cause us to question and examine, by revealing themes we may have already been thinking about but don’t have the words to describe or surfacing unexpected viewpoints we’ve never thought of before. Stories offer insights and understanding of ourselves and the world around us, often in the hopes that we’ll see ourselves and the world a bit more clearly and therefore have the courage to show up a little bit more authentically in our lives.