Famous stories in history – Who am I?

I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t play a game. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know the central theme – building your story. It’s what I do. It’s what I’m passionate about because I sincerely believe you have something meaningful to say. Your life experiences will touch others in a way that you can never know. Stories touch us to the heart and erase boundaries. I want to demonstrate the power of this by sharing different stories with you each week, stories of people you more than likely know, but maybe were not aware of their struggle. It will give you a different perspective of someone you may view on a pedestal. We look at people and see what they have become, but most of the time we don’t know their journey and struggle to get there. Knowing this gives us hope. In times of despair when life just gets too hard, it is stories that give us gravity.

So, I want to encourage you to dive into these stories as I share them and see yourself in their shoes. Our first story may be familiar to you, but I’d like to see if you can guess who it is. I’ll reveal the answer later this week, but share your comments below, and more importantly, what this story means to you and how you can relate to their challenges.

Our story today begins with a man and his wife. They are just getting started as a couple and like so many new couples, they’re barely making it. Living in a tiny trailer, the couple barely has enough money to buy groceries each week. The young man had a dream, like so many of us. He wanted to write. There was one problem. They were so poor, he couldn’t even afford a typewriter. But, who needs a typewriter when you have a dream? Pen and paper will do just fine.

He began work on his first novel, the result of a challenge from a friend. His friend told him that he would never be able to write or relate from a female perspective. As he wrote the story, he was disgusted with the results. His friend was right. He couldn’t do this. The novel was terrible. Doubting he had what it took to become a good writer, he balled up his work and threw it in the trash. He’d sleep on it tonight. Maybe he’d tried again in the morning, or maybe he was just no good at writing and would have to find a new dream.

After going to bed, his wife got up in the middle of the night. She walked into writing study and saw something balled up in the trash. She reached in and pulled it out, recognizing it as the piece her husband had been working on. She straightened out the crumpled pieces and read it. The more she read, the more her eyes widened in pride and astonishment. Her husband wasn’t a failure. He had talent and there was something there. She ran into the bedroom and woke him up to, excited to revive his crushed confidence. She showed him what she saw and encouraged him not to give up.

One year later, he had his first bestselling book.

Do you know who this man is? I challenge you even further to tell me the name of his first best seller.

Could you relate to his struggle? Pursuing our dream is an uphill battle all the way. Sometimes even the best of us have wanted to give up. I’m telling you – don’t. There’s greatness within you!