You might encounter a surprising moment when you’re telling a story and someone responds in a way you didn’t expect, differently from everyone else you’ve told that story to.
At first, this comes as a shock, and it can then go on to be disheartening. You might think you told the story wrong or that other people before were responding kindly without actually liking your story.
In reality, you have to consider that so many people have had so many different experiences in life that there are bound to be differences in how people react and relate to parts of your story.
For example, if you were telling a story about how your friend wronged you, and the person you were telling the story to was upset, you would naturally be confused. After all, you didn’t accuse the person of doing anything wrong.
If the person you were talking to had done something similar to one of their friends, it might have been a sore spot for them to hear the same story from the other side. People with varied experiences will have all kinds of strange reactions to stories.
Even if you’re not seeing some people get offended by your stories or anything like that, you might still see some people getting moved by your story more than others, and some react very little to it.
A lot of people’s reaction to stories has to deal with relatability, so if someone in your audience couldn’t relate to the story you were telling, they probably wouldn’t react to it very much. Since you can’t control people’s life experiences and reactions they’ll have, you should adjust your stories slightly to expand more on how situations you’ve encountered made you feel, allowing for more relatability from your audience.
If someone in the audience has shared that experience with you, they already know how you felt. Don’t rely on that; include more details on your reaction so that those who don’t share the experience can still understand what was happening.
You’ll also have to deal with times when people have strange reactions to your stories. If people consistently have adverse reactions to your story, you should change it, but if it’s infrequent, you should write it off as an unlucky event.
Sarah x
