I sat at my desk, at the job I'd wanted so badly for years, feeling utterly empty. What was happening? This was it, the thing that I was born to do, destined for. But what I thought would bring purpose, satisfaction, and a feeling of being truly alive was leaving me empty and hopeless. It didn't make any sense.
Even as I struggled to keep relationships alive, there was this part of me bent on pushing people away. Angry, but not sure why or at whom. I ended up feeling hopelessly stuck, like the life I thought was supposed to be mine had dropped me at a bus stop and driven away.
Maybe you recognize that scenario, or at least how it feels. Maybe you're there right now. The good news is, this isn't the end.
Each of us is living a story, a narrative we are telling ourselves about who we are, what we're doing here, and why things happen the way they do. That story shifts with every change of the season, every new discovery, each new lesson, hurt, and heartbreak. We get messages from the world and we assimilate them as best we can. Horrible things happen, people make baffling choices, and we're left to try and make sense of it.
What I didn't yet realize as I stood at that metaphorical bus stop was that I was living out of a false story. Misguided beliefs I had about my identity, what would make me happy, and what I had to prove were driving me to this place of emptiness. It would take some digging before I realized this fact, and it would take some of that dreaded vulnerability to make a change.
A New Chapter
It's time to tell your story--authentically.
Story Work is about taking an honest, searching look not only at the events of your story but also how you have been telling that story to yourself, and why your narrative has taken the shape that now influences how you experience your world. We take the luggage you're carrying and start to unpack the events, the explanations, the emotions. We name them, we feel them, we learn to know ourselves more truthfully--together.
This isn't easy. There's a reason we bury our pain. But we don't face it for the sake of suffering--we face it because that's the only way to find healing and to release the authentic self who's been buried under all the baggage.
I believe you can do it because I've been down that road myself. And I've dedicated the years since to getting equipped to help others reclaim their stories.
If you're ready--or if you're just ready to be ready--give me a call. An awesome story is waiting for you.
Mike Ensley is a nationally board-certified professional counselor, writer, and speaker in Loveland, Colorado.
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