Your Life Is A Story
I was in my studio last week, sifting through a dusty box of old photographs, the kind with curled edges and faded colours. A picture of me as a kid on a rusty tricycle. A blurry shot from a cross-country road trip. A formal portrait from a job I’d long since forgotten. On their own, they felt like disconnected fragments, random moments captured on film. It’s easy to feel that way about our lives—that we’re just moving from one disconnected event to the next, a chaotic collection of snapshots with no coherent plot. But I’ve learned that’s a misconception. The story is already there; we just have to learn how to see it.
We are narrative creatures. Our brains are wired to find patterns, to connect cause and effect, and to make sense of the world through story. It’s not an act of fiction to look for the narrative in your life. It’s an act of discovery. You’re not inventing a plot; you are uncovering the one that has been unfolding all along. The challenge isn’t the absence of a story, but the overwhelming amount of material. Your task as your own storyteller is to find the through-line, the central theme that connects those scattered photographs into a compelling film.
Identify Your Narrative Turning Points
Every good story is built around key moments of change. Your life is no different. To begin finding your narrative, you must first identify these foundational plot points. Forget trying to document every single day. Instead, think like an editor and look for the scenes where the entire story pivots. Start by grabbing a pen and paper and mapping out these core elements:
The Inciting Incidents: These are the moments that kick off a new chapter. It could be a decision to move to a new city, the choice to leave a stable career for a creative passion, or a chance encounter that changed your perspective. What events set you on the path you’re on today? List two or three major ones. These are the moments your story truly begins.
The Defining Challenges: A story without conflict is boring, and a life without challenges offers no growth. Think about the significant obstacles you’ve faced. This isn’t about dwelling on hardship, but about recognizing where you were tested. Maybe it was a period of self-doubt, a difficult project, or a personal loss. These struggles are not just bumps in the road; they are the scenes where your character, values, and resilience were forged. What did you learn from them? How did they shape you?
The Climactic Decisions: Look for the crossroads. These are the moments where you had to make a pivotal choice, and the outcome was uncertain. The decision to speak up, to walk away, to take a leap of faith. These turning points are the heart of your narrative because they reveal what you truly value. They are moments of agency where you weren’t just a passenger but the driver of your own story.
Crafting Your Personal Narrative
Once you have a handful of these key moments, lay them out. You’ll start to see a pattern emerge. The random snapshots begin to connect. Don’t think of this as writing a rigid autobiography from start to finish. Think of it as weaving a tapestry. The individual threads—the joy, the struggle, the confusion, the clarity—might seem disparate up close, but when you step back, they form a cohesive image.
What are the recurring themes? Is your story about the search for community? Is it about overcoming fear through creativity? Is it a story of resilience, of learning to rebuild after things fall apart? Your personal narrative is the theme that ties your plot points together. For me, looking at those photos, I saw a story not of random jobs and places, but of a constant search for connection—first through a camera lens, and later through community projects.
This understanding is more than just a navel-gazing exercise. It’s a tool. When you know the story you’ve been living, you can make more intentional choices about the story you want to live next. It gives you a compass, helping you navigate the future with a deeper sense of purpose. Your life isn’t random. It’s an epic in progress, and you are both the main character and the author.
This summer, our arts program is a vibrant hub for artists and the arts sector across Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Northwestern Ontario. We’re providing professional development and storytelling opportunities, with the goal of equipping artists with the tools they need to grow and succeed. This entire initiative is made possible thanks to the support of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Ontario Arts Council, whose funding is helping to support this season’s valuable mentorship and internship program.
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