I was sitting on my therapist’s couch a few weeks ago, chatting my head off about who knows what and somehow we got on the topic of “story.” Before we continued, she interrupted me and said “look to your upper right side.” A photo was on the wall that talked about embracing your story.

(*Gahhh, I have the biggest grin on my face right now*) Every single time I cross paths with the word “story,” I am affirmed in some way. Okay, Lord, I feel you. Let’s talk about story. You’ll hear it mentioned here. A LOT.

I first tuned into story a couple months ago. I was in North Carolina, brain on creative content overload, emotions circling as I mingled among a room full of boss babes honing in on their gifts and going after their dreams. Deep, deep down, I knew I was just like them, but on the surface? Yea, on the surface, I was a big ball of nerves. Every time I got around them, I, like, lost my sense of self. I’d get super self conscious – They have amazing ideas, how do I get ideas like that. Maybe I need to move somewhere where its more affordable to launch a business. She takes such amazing head shots – I don’t even have a head shot. What the heck is my niche?

And then I entered my 11:00am breakout session with Jessica Rasdall. When I signed up for the class a few weeks earlier, I remember the title jumping out at me like one of those eager elementary school children (me!) who knew the answer to whatever question the teacher just asked. Pick me, pick me! 

“Turn Your Mess Into Your Message”

So many in that room knew Jessica. Her story. Her desire to educate small business owners. But I didn’t. I was a little preoccupied in the 10 months leading up to the conference – I didn’t allow much time for speaker and attendee research. And then she spoke. She shared her “story” and I froze. I wanted to cry. But I wanted to hug her. I wanted to thank her and in all honesty, I wanted her to be my best friend. She was the type of person I always found myself attracted to – those who could stand and boldly tell their story, without shame or fear of judgement. Those who had made peace with the not-so-pretty parts of life and blended them in with the most beautiful and amazing parts of life to create a well rounded picture of the hills and valleys we are promised. I could feel the adrenaline shooting through my body as she challenged the group to start building their own individual stories.

I left her session stunned. She threw my brain completely overboard. But somehow, I heard the word “story” over a dozen times after that session. It was the word I seemed to pluck out of the remaining keynote and breakout sessions. It was even the premise of a raffle prize at the close of the conference. It became my sole focus for the next few weeks. What was my story? Did I even know? Think, Monique, think. Pray harder. What is the Lord telling you about story? Why are you holding on to that?

It took days to really wrap my head around the conference. Every time people would ask how my trip was, I’d respond “(sigh) OMG, incredible. Amazing. It was absolutely worth it. Best week ever.” That worked for most people. To try and explain C@H to a non-creative was a challenge so the more vague sometimes, the better. But with myself, I had to dig deeper. And in that digging, it was those “story” sessions that I was reminded of. The mega successful biz owners that were getting down to a beginner’s level to share the hard stuff and remind them of the important stuff. The ones that shared their ups, downs, sideways and in-betweens. The ones that made the person behind the social media image a lot easier to connect to.

Katelyn James wrapped up the conference with this:

And that was it.

1 out of every 1 person in this universe has a valley. Life’s not easy. For any of us. And if that’s the only thing we have in common, then that’s enough for me. It was that moment of reflection that I found LoveMo’s purpose. It was in that moment of reflection that I realized the correlation between my journey in therapy and the launch of a business focused on tending to people’s hearts. Ugh, it all made sense. Beautiful and complete sense!

Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Some have a few long chapters and others have many short chapters. Every story has experiences, places, characters (the good ones and the bad ones!), lessons, challenges, trials. change, and seasons to grow through. But unlike books, our lives don’t come with a brief synopsis of what the story’s about. We have to roll with the punches as they come. But I had to find true rest in knowing this story – the one I’m living out day to day – is meant only for me.

In the word “story, ” I found a need. A need in my own heart. A need that was shared with others. A need to love my story, valleys and all. And most importantly, a need to love myself.