Your Story: Your Gift to the World
Our true purpose in life is to use our story as a gift to serve others. -Niki Spears
Every person in our world has a unique story to share. Our true purpose is to live our life and share our stories in a way that will inspire others to share theirs. Even before we are born, God knows what our story will mean for us, others, and the world. Many of us shy away from the parts of our story that we don’t like, or the parts that are most challenging. But get this! All parts of our story, the good and those we perceive as bad, are important to who we are and how our story will inspire the world.
Everyone’s story is exclusive to that person and meant to respond to something happening or has happened in our world. Nobody’s story is meant to be the same and always includes a component of conflict. Any good book we’ve read or any great movie we’ve seen always has an element of struggle, that tension that draws us into the story as we anxiously wait to see how the main character will respond. Our life stories are no different. We know that our life will be riddled with struggles- the struggle between ourselves and society; the internal struggle that we feel within; and those struggles that we experience with others. Our struggles gift us with an opportunity to learn as we discover the beauty underneath such tension.
When we think of those people that we admire like Walt Disney, an American animator, writer, and film producer, who was fired from his first job because his boss said that he had ‘no imagination; or Stevie Wonder, an American singer and songwriter who became blind shortly after birth; or JK Rowling, the writer of the Harry Potter series who struggled with depression, we realize that each of these people has used their story to live an inspired life while gifting others with the courage to do the same. The stories of famous people are no different than ours. We are all gifted with stories from the time we are born until we write the final chapter - our story will live on long after we are gone. If it wasn’t for our perceived failures, our stories would be boring and lack in color. It is because of our struggles that beauty exists. No matter your gift, don’t allow the negative, fearful voices in your head to stop you from sharing this gift (your story) with others. Flow with the energy from your passion and share that energy with others.
I’ve always wanted to do something that made an impact in the lives of others, which is one of the many reasons I became an educator. We are all teachers of some subject no matter our occupation, and as educators our main goal is to model and demonstrate effective learning. We all possess a gift that can influence the lives of the next generation.
Becoming an educator was only one chapter of my story. I never imagined that this would lead me to traveling around the country inspiring other educators to embrace and share their story. You see, when we allow ourselves to live out our purpose, we uncover new gifts that may not have been revealed.
Every day I wake up inspired to step into my why as I am guided by God’s purpose for my life. No longer am I afraid to turn to a new page, nor am I ashamed or fearful to embrace previous chapters. All of the chapters of my story are important to who I am today. All of the characters I have encountered along the way have helped me to create my masterpiece.
I now know that with each page of my story I have the ability to welcome new gifts as my masterpiece unfolds. My main message to others is to discover the beauty underneath the struggle, embrace life’s challenges as an opportunity to assign new meaning to things that we may perceive as unfortunate, and take 100% responsibility for all parts of your story.
When we are able to transform negative stories, we allow ourselves to move out of the darkness to find our life, gifting ourselves and others with the lessons from our life.
Today, I encourage you to take the pencil, embrace all parts of your story, and allow the next page of your story to unfold.
Make it an amazing week or not. The Story is Ours!
Niki Spears