Storytelling is an amazing thing. I really value imagination and creativity, whether it's people's own ideas or they've been inspired by another.
I have used writing so often (I know this isn't really 'telling') but still, so often, as a coping mechanism when I've been having a bad time. I'd use it to become someone like me, that isn't me, if that makes sense, I'd use it to surround myself with people when I was lonely, I'd use it to talk to people when I had things that I felt I couldn't tell anyone.
But, the reason I say that, is because around the same time, when I was feeling really bad, someone I confided in said 'What books do you read?'
And I was confused for a second. But she went on 'Well, when you feel like ... what would this character do? Put yourself in their shoes and use their confidence when you can't find your own.'
It might sound strange, but it works. Really.
I still do it now, a few years on. For example, I don't particularly like being alone in public. I never have done. I feel very self conscious and awkward. But by putting myself in another characters shoes, I feel better.
If no one had told the stories whose characters helped me, I don't know what I'd do.
And I feel like I've grown too from that, because it's not their characters I think of anymore, it's characters i've dreamed up for myself.
Don't know if this makes sense to people...
