We Write The Story (And thus make life worth living.)

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a very good week and are (still) safe, happy and healthy.

Together with my cats (and laptop) I am currently lying on my stomach in the grass, so I guess I am doing quite well myself.

I was going to share my book reviews with you, but according to my memory I haven’t finished one book this week! So let’s immediately skip to the next part. It is going to be about… stories!

But how could you live and have no story to tell?

Imagine a world without books. Some of you will be horrified at the thought (me included), but others will just shrug and go on with their lives.

I think it is safe to say that you know that I love books (this blog would be rather strange if I didn’t), but you might wonder what it is that I love so much about them. The answer is easy: it’s the storytelling.

All my life I’ve been fascinated by stories. I love to hear them, read them and create them myself. And let’s be honest: what would life really be without stories? Isn’t life a big story itself? Everything you say, do or make is part of a story. Your story. And everything that happens in your story effects someone else’s. We all write the story, but we don't stop there. We want to tell it, share it, and make new ones—stories that are better than the one we are living ourselves.

And a lot of people do that through books.

So could I live without books? Well… I hate to admit it, but yes. But could I live without stories? Definitely not.

But without books, how can we share our stories? To begin with, we can share them through movies and TV series. And what about art? And what about simply telling stories to each other? We don’t have to write everything down. You can go to your parents or lover or best friend and tell them one (it could simply be about what you did today, you don’t have to be a poet or make things up).

And what about music?!

To Music first. Always. My personal favourite would be music. I am a huge music lover and I think a world without it would be a very empty one. Through music, we can say so much in such a special way. And by using the right words we can tell a whole story in just a few minutes.

And even better: we can use words, but we don’t need to! It is perfectly possible to listen to an entire story without hearing one single word. Think Mozart. Think film scores. Think of that one song you love so much and imagine it without words. Can you still 'hear' the story?

Need some examples? I don’t think it will surprise anyone that the two I will give you have everything to do with the Eurovision Song Contest. As you all know from my previous blog post, last week was Eurovision week. Instead of the usual Grand Final on Saturday, all of Europe could watch a show that celebrated this year’s songs. There were some performances from old winners (a big yay for Måns Zelmerlöw), but my favourite was a song played by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. It was all instrumental, but it spoke volumes. I think for me the story that it told was about my life, really. About my childhood, my teenage years, my life now. The life I want and the life I will never have again. For me it was beauty and sadness and love and hope and togetherness all at the same time.

I could go on and on about it, but instead I’ll ask you to do something for me: Click here, close your eyes and really listen. What do you hear? What does the music tell you? (I would love to hear all about it in the comments 😊)

My next example has to do with a little ‘project’ I am currently working on (that’s how we’re calling it these days, aren’t we? Instead of just saying that we’re doing something fun in our spare time): I am trying to learn how to play Arcade by Duncan Laurence on the piano. I love this song so much, and Duncan is one of the best storytellers I can think of. Once again, I don’t think there’s any need for me to explain it. Just listen and be moved by his story. (Or perhaps even yours.)

Happiness is only real when shared.

So back to this year’s ESC. I have to admit that it wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be, because I missed the two things that I love the most about it.

The first is that it’s so incredibly crazy and wonderfully magical at the same time. For one week a year you live in another universe where anything goes and everything is possible. It’s fun and emotional and it always makes me so happy. It truly is that escape from the real world that we all need from time to time.

The second thing I love is how it connects people. I think my favourite part of it all is that people who love it, love it together. Every year I look forward to that one week where I get to talk about all things Eurovision with my (best) friend(s) and even people I don’t know through social media (but especially my friends). Because isn’t it wonderful to share the things that excite you—the things that make you happy?

And isn’t that what stories do as well? Don’t they help you escape to another time, place or world? And don’t they connect people? Think about how by simply reading a book, listening to music or watching a movie you connect with the maker(s)? And how by writing/creating, you connect with the reader, listener and/or watcher as well? And it goes further than that, because there are other people who read, listen or watch it too. And when they share their thoughts and love for it, it brings it to a whole new level of connecting.

So I think telling stories is sharing lives. And I also believe that by sharing (stories) you can make happiness real.

And only when it's real, it makes life worth living.

Because that is what happiness does, don't you agree?

Feel free to let me know in the comment section & don't forget to subscribe + hit the like button (the heart right below)!

Love,

Annabel

Used quotes: “But how could you live and have no story to tell?” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky (White Nights) “To Music first. Always.” — Duncan Laurence, right after winning ESC 2019 with his song Arcade. “Happiness only real when shared.” — Christopher McCandless (Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer)