Copy
View this email in your browser

Hello friends,

I hope you are all safe and well in this unprecedented time on our planet.

Thankfully my family is safe and well. Elysha and I are fortunate enough to be able to teach from home, so except for the occasional foray for food, we have been able to distance ourselves from the rest of the world. But I have friends who are hospitalized and battling COVID-19, and I know people who had lost their lives to the disease, so we have not been without heartache. 

There has been much to worry during this pandemic, but one of the more insidious concerns of late for me has been the preciousness of childhood.

You only get to be a child for a short period of your life, and now, with the coronavirus cancelling the Little League season, dance recitals, vacations, field trips, play dates, afternoons at the playground, traditional schooling, and so much more, I find myself worrying that these important, precious childhood days are being lost forever.

Then I received a wake-up call. 

Last week Elysha and I took the kids to the park. We avoided the playground equipment, of course, and kept our distance from others. Instead, we walked around the pond and tossed rocks into the water. After making a complete circuit of the trails, the kids asked if they could run in the field.

“Of course,” I said, and they were off, running and jumping and giggling for far longer than I would’ve expected. Eventually they plopped themselves down into the grass about 50 feet away and began pointing at the sky and laughing uncontrollably.

It took me a moment to realize what they were doing:

Finding shapes in the clouds. Hilariously so. At one point, I heard Charlie say, “That one looks like it’s pooping out an asteroid!”

After about 20 minutes of cloud watching, I called to them, telling them it was time to go.

They protested. “Please… just a little while longer!”

We acquiesced, of course, then watched as they continued to point and giggle and roll around on the grass.

Finally, we were able to pry them away from the field and clouds and made our way back tot he car.

As we climbed inside, Clara said, “This was the best day of the whole year!”

Charlie chimed in with agreement.

Clara didn’t say, “This was the best day since we started social distancing.”

She didn’t say, “This was the best day since the coronavirus arrived.”

She didn’t say, “This was the best day in the past month.”

She said, “This was the best day of the whole year.”

“The whole year?” I asked. “January first through today?”

“Yup,” she said. “I loved today.”

Just like that, my concerns over lost childhood days were gone. An enormous weight was lifted from my shoulders.

My kids are young. They still love running in fields and staring at clouds. Nothing makes them happier than wrestling with their father and snuggling with their mother. They could throw stones in water all day long. They still love drawing and playing with toys and eating mango and listening to Hamilton.

My kids are fine. Happy, even., Yes, they’d love to be able to play with the neighbors, and yes, they miss their teachers and classmates, and yes, it would be nice if we were departing for Niagara Falls today as originally planned, but it turns out that they don’t need any of those things to be happy.

I had to agree with Clara. It might’ve been the best day of the whole year.

THIS WEEK'S LESSON

In the time of pandemic, many of us are doing far less in the world than ever before. We are seeing fewer people, going to fewer places, and finding ourselves with far less variety in our lives.

One might think that this would be a terrible time to find stories in your life, but that is wrong. In fact, looking back on my Homework for Life for the previous month, I can find more storyworthy entries in the last 30 days than the previous three months.

Why?

Because of this simple fact:

Stories are not about the stuff that is happening on the outside of our bodies. Stories are about the things happening inside our minds. 

So often, people think that in order to tell a great story, you must do something extraordinary. Bungee jumping. A terrible first date. A vacation to Tibet. A car accident. A battle with an in-law. Marriage. Divorce. A gun battle with a drug cartel.  

No, no, no. These moments might all make great stories, but not because of what you were doing but because of what you were thinking.

Stories are about transformation or realization. Change over time. These changes always, without exception, take place in our minds.

During this period of social distancing, I've been spending an enormous amount of time in my head, thinking about the changes taking place in the world. The fears I have for my family and friends. The shifting beliefs about how and where our world will finally end up. They way my friends and family are managing their lives. They way my wife and children are reacting to the pandemic.  

Think about the story I told at the beginning of this newsletter. That moment - when my daughter tells me that it's been the best day of her year - will make a great story.

The thesis statement for my story goes like this:

I was once a father who worried that his children were losing out on precious childhood days because of the pandemic, then something happened, and I realized that I was wrong.

That's it. That's the story. And what happened in order for this realization to take place?

My daughter looked at some clouds and then said a single sentences to me. 

Hardly bungee jumping or a gun battle with an army of drug smugglers.  

The moment couldn't have been more benign. Yet it was incredibly profound, and it'll make a great, great story someday. 

So don't give up on seeking out stories during these strange, isolated days. Don't worry about the lack of people, places, and variety in your life. Stories happen inside each and every one of us. Constantly. And so many of us have so much happening inside of us during these uncertain, frightening times.

Stay tuned to those moments when something fundamentally or incrementally shifts inside you. 

When that happens, you probably have a story to tell.

STORYTELLING WORKSHOPS 
April 18: Storytelling workshop (beginner), MOPCO Theater (online)
April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, and 27: Advanced storytelling workshop (online)
July 27-31: Storytelling boot camp, CT Historical Society

  • Our beginner's workshop is designed for anyone who wants to take their first steps into storytelling. This is a low stakes day designed to introduce participants to storytelling. No participation is required. If you want to learn how to tell an entertaining, engaging, and soulful story but aren't quite ready to stand up and speak, fear not. This is an opportunity to learn in a safe environment where you will not be asked to speak a word unless you want to.  
  • Our advanced workshops are designed so that storytellers can take them again and again (and many do). Every advanced workshops is completely different from the last, with new strategies and lessons taught each time. Storytellers learn new techniques through specifically targeted lessons, they have the opportunity to watch a story crafted from scratch, and they tell a story of their own and receive a critique. Lessons are then generated from these stories, too. Space is limited in order to ensure enough time and attention for every storyteller.  
  • Our storytelling master class is an opportunity for storytellers to perform in a workshop environment with the goal of receiving a critique. This workshop is absent of any explicit instruction and is dedicated solely to the telling of stories. Each storyteller will have the opportunity to tell two stories over the course of the day or a single story twice, incorporating suggestions from the first telling. Space is limited in order to ensure enough time and attention for every storyteller. 
  • Our boot camp is a weeklong experience for storytellers which culminates in a showcase performance on a Friday night for invited friends, family, and former Speak Up storytellers. It's an opportunity to spend a week taking a deep dive into the art and craft of telling stories. 
Looking to learn more about storytelling through something more than a weekly email lesson?

Try my book on storytelling:

Storyworthy Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling

Available in paperback, Kindle, and audio, which I narrate myself!

On episode #92 of the Speak Up Storytelling podcast, Matthew and Elysha Dicks talk storytelling!

In our follow up segment, we debut our first bot of content on our Patreon page , announce online workshops and shows, and a weekly free storytelling workshop for families on Facebook Live and YouTube. 

In our Homework for Life segment, I talk about combining two moments from your Homework for Life into a single story, as well as being open to the idea that you might still be in the midst of a story.

Next we listen to a story by Monica Malaver.

Amongst the many things we discuss include:

  1. The power of self deprecation

  2. Scene setting

  3. Humor through vulnerability

  4. Connecting the beginning and endings of stories

  5. Avoiding process language 

Next we answer a question about the beginnings of stories. 

Lastly, we each offer a recommendation. 

RECOMMEDATIONS

Elysha:

  • Guardians of the Galaxy Volumes 1 and 2

Matt:

_______________________________________________

Support Speak Up Storytelling through our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/speakupstorytelling

Purchase Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytellinghttps://amzn.to/2H3YNn3

Purchase Twenty-one Truths About Lovehttps://amzn.to/35Mz1xS 

Homework for Life: https://bit.ly/2f9ZPne

Matthew Dicks's website: http://www.matthewdicks.com

Matthew Dicks's YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/matthewjohndicks 

Matthew Dicks's blog:
http://www.matthewdicks.com/matthewdicksblog

Subscribe to Matthew Dicks's weekly newsletter: 
http://www.matthewdicks.com/matthewdicks-subscribe

Subscribe to the Speak Up newsletter: 
http://www.matthewdicks.com/subscribe-speak-up

Subscribe to Matthew Dicks's blog:
http://www.matthewdicks.com/subscribe-grin-and-bare-it

PERFORMANCES AND WORKSHOPS 2020

April 18: Storytelling workshop (beginner), remote beginner’s workshop, MOPCO Improv Theater, Schenectady, NY
April 18: A Night of Storytelling with Matthew Dicks (remote solo show), MOPCO Improv Theater, Schenectady, NY
April 22, 29, May 6, 13, 20, and 27: Advanced storytelling workshop (online)
June 6: “Teen Angst” at the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT
June 18: Summer Buzz Author Event, Mandell JCC, West Hartford, CT
June 23: Storytelling solo show, Whiton Branch Library, Manchester, CT
June 24: Story slam, Morse Institute Library, Natick, MA
June 27: “Grow: Stories of Hard Lessons and Forward Progress” at Bears Smokehouse, New Haven, CT
July 27-31: Storytelling boot camp, CT Historical Society
September 26: Best of Valley Voice, Music Academy, North Hampton, MA
November 15: Descendants of the Shoah Conference, Mandell JCC

Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Email
Email
Website
Website
YouTube
YouTube
Speak Up
Speak Up
unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences