Like many of you, my grandmother was a storyteller. Her tales of youth and adventure were a nightly ritual for our family. Each story brought a unique sense of peace and sparked new thoughts. But it was not just entertainment. Her storytelling was a powerful tool for our mental health, strengthening our family bond and sharpening our minds.
Her tales preserved family history, reduced stress, and strengthened cognitive abilities. Now, we will discuss how storytelling can give you 100% mental health. Keep reading!
The Connection Between Storytelling and Mental Health
Storytelling is usually referred to as narrating or writing stories. Such stories are mainly used as entertainment and to capture the target audience’s attention. Indeed, storytelling is equally effective in framing your mental health picture.
We are talkers when, for example, explaining a mishap at the market to a family member. We also become storytellers when narrating how a romantic relationship or affair started. It is true, especially when using stories, events, characters, actions, themes, feelings, and ideas in communication throughout the day.
It is mostly how we start some of our stories: “Here is the story.” After we deeply disclose information about it. It shows different changes in our minds. Come on, let us talk about the purpose of storytelling and make a list of the advantages of sharing stories when it comes to mental health.
Emotional Regulation
If you are a senior family member, one of the most effective techniques is to draw family tree of life stories with your family. When you have so much to tell and feel sad or angry, a family member to whom you explain how something caused you to feel sad will recount how they can help in this situation. When younger members look at the whole scene, they gain experience in steering how to deal with such problems in the future.
Note: You can also rely on the activity of writing down your thoughts and feelings in the form of a story.
The most informal way to share an experience is to tell a story that will explain the point further, whether it is a voicemail message done through a digital family tree maker such as Lifetimes or a written voice in a diary format. Recording your emotions can be highly helpful if you do this regularly.
Shedding Your Stress
When you tell your life stories to others, it feels like taking a load off a heavy cross on your body. You also feel more connected and develop better relationships whenever you share them.
In life, you must seek help and tell your story, as it is the most wonderful healing method for you and those who will listen to you. It does not have to be poetic or even deep; investing time in a tale is advantageous if it gives the narrator someone to speak to.
Thirdly, empathically connecting with another human being feels good. It happens when you listen with your heart to a friend or a loved one telling their story. People also feel good when others listen to them because it is considerate and shows they care.
Linking With Others
If you are depressed, you will likely feel as if no one else understands you or nobody is going through the same thing. But when you share your life stories, you can gather a set of friends who will, in fact, communicate with you and know where you are coming from.
By knowing your depressed situation, they will comfort you by sharing their family stories that will help you in handling this critical condition. Also, if there are your friends and family members who experience depression but have not consulted a doctor yet, telling them about your condition may help them do so.
Helping Your Loved Ones
Whenever you share a story with someone, your loved ones are likely to benefit. Whether they have been through similar circumstances or not, they will discover they can always find something in common with another individual and their life experiences.
It makes talking about things less lonely and easier to handle. Helping others makes you feel good and makes you want to think about your own lives and how blessed you are. This way, you feel more mental satisfaction than before. It boosts your emotions and urges you to help others as much as possible. As a result, a feeling of sympathy flows all around.
Developing the Feeling of Importance
Whether you tell or listen to a story, you will feel valued, which can significantly boost your mental health, especially in today’s society. Having analyzed the evaluations of clinical psychologists, we can conclude that storytelling is as effective as psychotherapy.
Sharing your stories with your family and telling them to other people makes sense of the stories, helps you deal with problems or worries about the story, and sometimes enables you to express sadness or anger if it is your choice to tell the sad or angry story. As other people get involved in your story, you can understand the importance of your existence in them.
Helpful for Dementia Patients
Community storytelling and reminiscence therapy have also been very helpful in the lives of those with dementia. Like any other art, like music, storytelling helps seniors in the community face and deal with compromised memory challenges.
It brings back their lost or weakened memories, and they will share genealogy with you. You can also use this information to create a documented or digital family tree.
Final Thoughts!
The concept of ‘talking about yourself’ may be quite awkward, particularly if you were raised with confusing values. This prohibited you from discussing yourself and your emotions. But as adults, it is important to be aware that people out there, relatives and friends. This has our backs and desire to know about our present condition and the journey we have taken to get there.
We recommend sharing your life stories with your closest friends and family as a wonderful form of free therapy. You can also help your future generations by using a free online family tree maker for storytelling purposes.
