A note from Donna
I’d like to put in a note of gratitude this week for all the people who were very lovely and helpful when my car window got put through – my neighbours, friends, relatives, glass replacement bods, and the police. Everyone was really lovely – and in the case of the glass people and police, really good fun. We had an excellent laugh over the idea that someone might have tried to steal my tape collection (yes, I still have a tape player in my car!). And thank you to the person who put the window through for NOT stealing my tapes!!!
Sensationalise Your Life
Alright, imagine that you are writing the story of your life for a tabloid newspaper – what scandal, gossip and sensationalism can you come up with? How can you exaggerate the bad things that happen in your life? Are you on the brink of bankruptcy? Is the sky about to fall in? Don’t worry about the truth – after all, Fleet Street won’t let the truth get in the way of a good story, so why should you? Really go to town on your story. Get some inflationary language in there – shocking, worst for 2 months, incredible, horrifying.
If you did this (and if not, why not?!), did you exaggerate the good stuff or the bad? Did you play up the positive end of the story or the negative? Did you dwell on the ‘bad’ stuff or focus more on the good? Have a quick think about it now – which do you think would be easier? The reason I am asking is that I did this a few days ago – totally sensationalised my story!
I think I have been listening to too much news recently – I usually try to avoid it, but everytime you turn on the tv, radio or internet, someone is gabbling on about the latest crisis. So I joined the party and had a little crisis of my own – my finances were the worst for 6 months, I had NO money for the month, I needed to cancel every social engagement I have this month…and blah, blah, blah.
The thing was, when I stopped feeling sorry for myself and whinging, I realised that this was largely bollocks! I make some extra payments to pay down my debts – if I just take a rest from these voluntary payments for one month, I have money. I also have money in my savings. I also have money in my purse. I was just moaning! The trouble is that when I was busy sensationalising my life and making it a terrible shame for me, other people believed it…and for a moment I did too.
Most of us do sensationalise a little (well, all storytellers do, it makes a better story!), but when we do it consistently we start to believe that things are a little worse than they are…and a little worse…and a little worse, until we talk ourselves into a really shit life! But guess what? If you sensationalise in a positive way, you start to feel GREAT – so come on, talk it up and let’s hear about that SENSATIONAL life of yours!
Something to play with
Imagine you are writing the story of your life for the most positive tabloid in the universe – no negativity, self-pity or whinging is allowed in this tabloid, but exaggeration of the positive, good inflationary language (amazing, wonderful, magnificent, best ever) is positively encouraged!!! And enjoy that story!