Story Spark Day 24 - Takeaway of Your Story

Awesome! So welcome to day number 24 of the StorySpark session, and we are towards the end of week 4 of finding the right element for the story. And this element is one of the most important elements when it comes to storytelling. So let's get right into it while others join. So So the element that we are talking today is why we tell the story, and that is takeaway message. Why are you telling the story? What is the point? Why should we remember your story? And most importantly, for your audience, what lesson they can get from your stories. As a speaker, storyteller, and communicator, It's our responsibility to make sure that our stories have a purpose, our stories have a reason, our story have a message, sometimes implicit, sometimes explicit. So in today's session, what we are going to do is we are going to again look at one of our stories and think about the clear takeaway message for the story. What is the message that we want to give to the audience? So once we'll go through the exercise for 2-3 minutes, what we are going to do is then you can tell the story, and then at the end of the story, you also tell the takeaway message. All right, so let's get started. I'm gonna start the music and we'll think about the story in 2 minutes and then also think about the takeaway message. All right. Okay, good morning, Arka Ji. You're on mute.

Take a message. No, I'm just writing it.

So we are writing the story and the emphasis is what is the takeaway. So we'll have another minute or so and then we'll go. Let's start with Harsha. So Harsha, do you have your story ready with the takeaway?

Yes.

Okay, I had my story. Uh, title is The Addiction. Addiction.

Addiction.

Okay, there are two friends are there, Sudarshan and Durga Rao. So Darshan got a good job in government job and he comes to Durga Rao. Hi Durga Rao, I got a job, let's party. Okay, uh, what type of party you want? He says we'll go to KFC or something else. No, no, I will give drinks party, alcohol party. Will consume alcohol. No, no, we doesn't have that. I have it. Why we should consume alcohol? Let's taste the alcohol, uh, says Sudarshan. Okay, your wish. I never consumed alcohol, says Turgarao. After that Sudarshan went and gets the bottles. They started drinking. Sudarshan had completed his bottle. Turgarao has a little bit of alcoholism in bottle. He asked to give the bag, one bag of alcohol. The Turgarao refused. I won't give, it is very nice, I won't give. Okay. Then they started struggling, fighting with each other for that alcohol. Sudarshan got angry and killed Durgarao. And at that moment, someone is saying, 'Sudarshan, Sudarshan!' He is sleeping. Durgarao called. He suddenly get up from the sleep and, "It's a dream. You are alive. I think I killed you because of alcohol." "No, you said no, you bring alcohol." "I brought, I went and brought alcohol, beer I bought." "No, no, we doesn't need this. It is not good, not for health, not for society." Let us throw it on the dustbin. Okay, your wish. Let us take biryani and we'll go for KFC or something else. Let's do party. It is addiction. The takeaway message is we should not consume alcohol. Consuming alcohol leads to very dangerous things will may happen in life. Will spoil our life and also others life. It is the takeaway message. It is also available in YouTube as a short film.

I was expecting this. Awesome story. Power to you, as we always— and we love hearing your story. So awesome. Let's go to Dr. Alka.

I'll share something which happened yesterday in my clinic. So there was this girl, about 35 years old, and she shared that she was very low actually, she was very depressed. And then when I asked her what could be the reason, because sometimes it's intrinsic, sometimes it's extrinsic, she's working, she's having a job, and she said that recently she had an abortion done. So I told her that, why, why? She already has the 8-year-old child, 9-year-old child, now 10. So he said, my child was 10 years, 9 years old, so I didn't want to have another baby. And plus my husband is in Merchant Navy, so I had the abortion. Now at this point, in— at this point, I was very angry. I asked her, how did you get pregnant? She says— and I asked her why. 'If you didn't want the child, then you shouldn't have got pregnant, right?' So she said, 'Yeah, it was a moment of passion. My bed came after 3-4 months, so it happened.' Now at this point, my value system is that you cannot kill the child. It's not— the child has come to you, the God has given you this child, you better take care of this child. But that is my value system, that's not her value system. So I got a little upset with her. I told her, but you have no right to kill the child. And she said, yeah, I know, that's why I'm feeling very guilty and that's why I'm feeling very depressed. And that was it, she left. But I was very guilty and I was very, very upset with my own self. After about 10 minutes, I went out to see if she's still there, and she was still there because she had to meet my husband after that. So she was still there, and I called her back again and I told her, I'm really sorry for, you imposing my value systems on you. And when a person is depressed, I think we as a world— and I call myself that I'm very empathetic and I'm very emotionally intelligent and all of that— and here I'm talking to her and I'm making her feel guilty. So I told her, and something happened, and I told her that I'm sorry, and you should learn to forgive yourself now. Jo ho gaya, so ho gaya. Whatever has happened has happened. So let it be now and forgive yourself for whatever happened. And her face became so beautiful. She smiled and she felt so much better, and I felt better too. The point of the story is that we have— we are becoming a very, very meaner society. We are becoming a very, very mean and judgmental people. We are becoming— and we are dehumanizing ourselves. And the other thing is that we have no right to put— impose our value systems on another. A depressed person, what he needs is that we should go down to his level, sit with him and talk with him and share with him. Other than, you know, standing on a high pedestal and judging them. And that's not going to help heal. They're not going to— that's not going to help them to heal at all. If you have to help other people to heal, you have to make them feel seen, validated, and acknowledged. And this is what my story is. So I just love that, love that, and love the takeaway.

I think we shouldn't impose our value system. So yes, sorry, power to you as well. And yeah, today I got, uh fable, and I think it's very relevant, and I think somewhere it is connecting the dots between these two stories. So the story is about a boy who was on the beach in the morning. So, uh, old uncle was walking on the beach and he saw a young boy, and he saw a young boy is taking out something and throwing in the sea, and he's doing it very diligently. And the old person was actually very perplexed, what's happening? And so he comes close to the boy and he sees that there are thousands and thousands of starfish on the sea, on the shore, and the boy is picking up and throwing some of those starfishes back to the sea. So he looks at the boy and says, "Young boy, what are you doing?" And he said that, "Oh, I'm throwing these starfish back to the seas so that they can survive." And this old person is puzzled and says, don't you see there are thousands and thousands of starfishes? Do you really think you can make a difference? And then young boy picks another starfish and with the full force he throws it back to the sea and said, it makes difference to this one. And the takeaway message of all of this is sometimes we feel that we need to change the world to make a big diff— big impact, but big, big difference. But even our small gestures can actually make a big difference in one individual's life. And I think that is the great takeaway message out of this story. So that's the story that came to me when I thought about what story I can share today. So awesome, all of you. So let's go around the room quickly and, and share what did you feel about this particular exercise.

Yes, it's exciting. The story you said, no, that is wonderful. But that small, small efforts consistently, if you do, you will get succeeded. Absolutely. And madam, madam, the story is also a wonderful story and a beautiful story. Thank you.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Yes, Dr. Alka.

So I think it's about the way we tell the story. Like, I've heard this starfish story so many times, but the way you told it, Haritosh Srivastav, it was very, very well said in such a short period. With 2 or 3 sentences, you told the whole story. And I heard this story and I read this story, it was in a big paragraph. So I think the time you took, and it was short and crisp, so that is what I liked about your story. And Harsha, it was that dream that he that surprise element. Yeah, it was so happy. You felt so happy when he said that the person was not died and not— he never— not— he didn't kill the other person. So that is the, uh, I think that style of telling the story is also very, very important. So I learned it. Yeah, we can use this style sometimes while in storytelling. They tell the story and then say, oh, it was a dream. Yeah, it was a really great idea.

Absolutely awesome. So I have a couple of announcements before we wrap up the session. Number 1 is tomorrow we will not have the StorySpark session because I need to go somewhere in the morning to attend a session. So we will not have. Second thing is I have launched the poll in the community in the WhatsApp group. So there are a few slots for the next Storython session. So please choose all your available slots if you have already not chosen. And once we have 5 or more people putting their attendance, we'll schedule the sessions accordingly. All right then, yeah, that's pretty much it. And it is 6:16, so we are on time. Thank you so much for joining. This was Day 24 of StorySpark session. See you tomorrow. And as I say, until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep going out of your comfort zone. See you day after tomorrow for the StorySpark session. Take care.