On Storytelling

The content that gets the most engagement on socials tend to have good storytelling, and the more authentic sort of storytelling involves some level of personal and real life stories. And the best ones within those... tend to expose some level of vulnerability.

So most of us would go into a typical story arc... like the hero's journey storytelling structure, for example. We'll talk about our failures or past (setup) then the struggle up to threshold... involve mentors and guides... narrate a part of our lives as the transformation and show the prestige, the reward...

We tell it as if this arc is complete. Like we've lived it all.

But this is real life. And things don't always play out like they do in stories and legends. We don't even know which part of that 'hero's journey' we are actually at right now.

And we're left to deal with repercussions of the stories we put out there about ourselves, even in an effort to build personal brands for ourselves.

On the flipside, generalise too much or being too much of an observer would simply disconnect us from our audience, who I assume is slowly being brainwashed to consume dopamine driven content, thus, hook culture.

So here's a proposed solution... balance in everything... which might actually be the hardest thing to do:

Be authentic and vulnerable, but not to the extend it can damage yourself or others.

Be honest, but know that every honest truth can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Be opinionated, but not the expense of insulting or hurting others.

These days, everyone has to deal with this... not just politicians. hahaha

What an interesting place and time to be in.