Guest Post by Charlotte Glaze: “Sharing is Caring: How Stories Can Build Connections”

In the past months, my newsletters have been encouraging all of us to create. There are so many ways to create and it is a part of life that brings joy to so many. In this busy, computer-crazed world, it is so refreshing to stop. Think your own thoughts. Breathe. And to create. 

So, why create? Besides the joy of making something that came from your head and hands, we create to connect with other people. How do people make connections with other people? By sharing truth with them. It could be a personal story or a passed-on story that we have seen proven, or even a made-up story that proves the truth we have seen in our own life. We share these things with each other and suddenly, there it is, connection.

Just a few weeks ago we had a playdate with one of my child’s friends, his mom, and his sister. She had an uncommon name, Elinor. So I asked if she was named after the character in a Jane Austen book (who is one of my favorite authors). The mom replied that, no, although she loves Austen, her daughter was actually named Elanor, the name of Samwise Gamgee’s daughter in the Lord of the Rings (another of my favorite books!). Just by finding out her daughter’s name and where it came from, I found a connection with another mom who is interested in the same things as I am. How did we connect? Through the story she told me.

Whatever you create: an email, a painting, a meal for your family or friends… think about how it can connect you to the other person. I would love to hear a story about how you connect. Let me know!