255: Finding Light in Darkness

Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will

As we go through life we collect stories that we will carry with us for our whole lives, they often are evidence of the trials we have survived, but it's how we tell the story of our past that makes the difference.

In this episode Sarah Elkins and her guest Mike Coleman discuss the importance of our stories and sharing them in a way that will inspire others and give yourself peace.

Highlights

• Find the cracks that let the light in.
• Tell your story in the way you want to tell it.
• Be international about the stories you share.

Quotes

“There are more important things than the next big story.”

“It’s incumbent upon us as storytellers to make a story interesting, and the cracks help do that and how we deal with them and how we survive them.”

“How can you not be happy? How can you not accept the way you are? How do you get to the point where you can say ‘Yes, I wouldn’t change this about me.’ and I realized I have a lot of work to do to get to that point.”

About Mike

A professional writer for nearly 45 years, Mike Coleman won awards for news reporting and writing for nonprofit organizations and businesses in the technology industry. He went on to launch his own branding and content development firm, which served international technology companies for more than a decade. After retiring in 2020, he wrote THE WAY FROM ME TO US, a memoir about his nearly 50-year relationship with his husband. It's a story of a couple carving out a life for themselves against a backdrop of major cultural change in attitudes toward LGBTQ people. THE WAY FROM ME TO US is scheduled for release in fall 2022 from Riverdale Avenue Books, NYC.

Connect with Mike on his LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook!

Interested in Mike’s book? Get it here!

About Sarah

"Uncovering the right stories for the right audiences so executives, leaders, public speakers, and job seekers can clearly and actively demonstrate their character, values, and vision."

In my work with coaching clients, I guide people to improve their communication using storytelling as the foundation of our work together. What I’ve realized over years of coaching and podcasting is that the majority of people don’t realize the impact of the stories they share - on their internal messages, and on the people they’re sharing them with.

My work with leaders and people who aspire to be leaders follows a similar path to the interviews on my podcast, uncovering pivotal moments in their lives and learning how to share them to connect more authentically with others, to make their presentations and speaking more engaging, to reveal patterns that have kept them stuck or moved them forward, and to improve their relationships at work and at home.

The audiobook, Your Stories Don’t Define You, How You Tell Them Will is now available!

Included with your purchase are two bonus tracks, songs recorded by Sarah's band, Spare Change, in her living room in Montana.

Show notes by Chinook Bromlie.