SPIRITUAL CHALLENGE: A Personal Growth Exercise – “SWAP STORIES”

Our theme for January is STORY and my challenge to you this month is to Swap Stories with someone. Swap the Story of your life with someone who doesn’t know it. Your partner for this probably won’t be your life partner or spouse or closest friend because they will most likely know too much of your story too well already. The most difficult part of this challenge is finding a partner. The partner you want to find for this challenge is someone you know, but don’t know well enough that they really know your story. People you know from church can be great for this exercise, or perhaps someone you know from another group or endeavor such a gym acquaintance, a distance relative you’re friendly with but perhaps all you know about their story is the parts you share. If you can’t find a partner or don’t know how to ask, get in touch with me and I’ll match you up with another person who is looking for a partner.

Once you’ve found a partner, agree on how you’ll share your stories as well as when and where. You might choose to share them over a meal or coffee or even via Zoom. You could write your stories and swap them to read. You could make videos and share them. You might get very creative and tell your story via poetry, or painting, or drawing. Musicians might write a song. You could make a collage or storyboard. There’s no “wrong” way to tell your story.

After you’ve shared stories, and hopefully asked each other questions about your respective stories, reflect together on what it was like. What was it like to hear your partner’s story? What really grabbed you about their story and the way they told it? What did you find yourself asking about and wanting to know more about their story? What was it like for you to “tell” (or write or draw, etc.) your story? What did you learn about your own story and how you usually tell it by telling it to this person who didn’t fully know it?

As always, if you undertake this challenge, I’d love to know how you did with it, and if you made a new friend.