The sea offers amazing analogies for our voyage through life; and the sea turtle birth story is really interesting. The female sea turtle selects a place in the sand to dig a hole, lay about a hundred eggs, and buy them. She might have between 2-8 nests per season. When the hatchlings peck their way out of the shell, they crawl up and out to the sea. Life is no cake walk for these young turtles—because only about one in a thousand of these hatchlings makes it to adulthood. But once they do, they can live about 100 years.
People in our lives mirror the sea turtles in this important way. We meet hundreds of people each year (do the math), yet at the end of multiple decades, only a few of these people become significant in our lives. When I think back, I can remember the names of some of those from schools I’ve attended, some boyfriends, and some neighbors, but not everyone (and I’m sure the same people can’t remember me either). Yet those who survive as friends, bring a treasure chest of gifts. When you think about it, people move us forward—sometimes in chainlike fashion.
A quick example: My sister Karen’s Houston friend knew Sharon from Phoenix ,my town. I contacted Sharon and we became friends. Soon, I met Sharon’s friend Lynn. A few years later, Lynn invited me to attend a workshop hosted by four publishers. Mary was one of those publishers, and even though I didn’t see myself as an author, we became friends and worked together to help others self-publish their books. Soon I was doing it on my own. So this chain of friendship led me to my current career as an author and book creation coach.
Another example: In college, if I had not met Rhonda, an Elementary Education major, I would never have thought about a career in teaching.
Try this yourself. Start by making a list of the years you have lived.
1. Grab a lined notebook. On the first line, on the left side, place the year you were born.
2 . Skip a line, and below that date, continue to list each year. End with the current year.
3. Go back to the top of page #1 (the year you were born) and in the space just to the right of the year, place your age. You’ll begin with 0 and when you get to the current year, you should be at your current age.
4. In no special order, think of people you know who’ve made an impact—good or bad—on your life and the year you met them. Write their name on the line corresponding to that date.
5. If you met someone though another person (as in my example) make connecting lines.
6. When you feel you’ve got a good number of people listed, select three or four favorite people/connections and write the story about them. Choose someone that you think would be fun to write about.
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It’s entirely possible to write your whole life story based on the people who made it to your list; and how one person led you to another or to a new career path.
Turtle/people stories are not only fun, they help us to understand and appreciate our journey. Once you get comfortable writing the fun stories, you might consider diving for stories about some of the people who taught you hard lessons—the boss you didn’t like, the teacher who motivated you to say, “I’ll show you.†You know who they are.
The beauty of this process is that through the eyes of reflection, you take on a new perspective about these “villains†from your life’s journey. If possible, find the blessing in each relationship and each challenge.
Enjoy! And remember, if you have questions or would like assistance, I’m only an email or a phone call away at 623.466.5067 or [email protected].
