The Energy We Bring

Telling Our Stories Without Losing the Spark

I’m not really a woo-woo person. I leave that to my lovely mother, who could probably give a Ted Talk on the power of positive thinking (or meditation, or yoga, or Kombucha tea, or aliens, you name it, if it’s a little out there, she’s probably explored it.). I look for the practical, the explainable stuff grounded in things I can touch, see, and feel. But I can’t deny there’s something that feels a little like magic, even if I don’t want to call it that.

The world reflects whatever energy you bring into it. I’m pretty sure my mom told me this in many of our philosophical chats over the years. I didn’t really get it or believe it when I was 19, working at the dry cleaners, griping about my latest failed romance. But sitting here in Berlin after a magical week of cat sitting at a castle, listening to the cuckoos calling, watching a fox slink through the woods, sitting next to a baby deer only slightly bigger than a cat… I believe it now!

It’s a strange truth that keeps proving itself to me. Years ago, when I first got engaged, I was totally enamored with my ring. I’d gesture without thinking and get enchanted with how the light caught the stone, and people would notice. They’d ask about it, admire it, celebrate it with me. But after a while, the ring just became part of me. I didn’t think about it anymore. And no one else did either.

It was the same story, on a bigger scale, when I left Kansas in 2018. I sold almost everything I owned, quit my job, and took off for what was supposed to be a year of traveling the world. At the start, I was practically glowing. I couldn't believe I was doing this thing I had dreamed about for so long. When I told people what I was doing, they were curious, delighted, and a little awestruck (just like I was). They mirrored my excitement right back to me.

But now, when someone asks what brought me to Germany, I usually give the shorthand version. I don’t tell the whole story with wide eyes and breathless joy anymore. The facts haven’t changed, but the way I tell it has. And when I act like it’s ordinary, people respond as if it is.

Whether it’s a diamond ring or a transcontinental leap, it seems the energy I carry is what shapes how others receive it.

The inspiration for this post came this morning when I sat down to log in and reconnect with the Pen Your Masterpiece Accountability Hub pilot program that I started earlier this year. I had been so fired up about it when it began. I poured my energy into it, and the group felt it. We were all buzzing with motivation. We were consistently hitting our goals and feeling good about it. But after the pilot ended, my drive quietly slipped away. I offered for folks to keep using the tools, but I stopped showing up myself and for them.

When we step away from something we once felt passionate about, it can be surprisingly hard to reconnect. We forget the energy that launched us. We start to doubt whether it even mattered.

The same is true with writing our stories. If we wait too long, it’s easy to lose touch with the emotion that once made it feel urgent. But that doesn’t mean the story is gone—it just means we have to re-enter it with intention. To remember what it felt like to care that much. And to know: it’s not too late to come back.

Let’s Not Be Bored About Our Stories

I think about this in terms of memoir writing, too. If we wait too long to tell our stories, or don’t get into the right headspace to tell them, they can lose their spark. They become part of us, just another detail we summarize instead of something we feel. And if we are bored with our own story, how can we expect someone else to be excited about it?

We have to find that original energy again—the awe, the delight, the disbelief. We have to re-enter the moment and write from there. That’s what makes the story come alive for someone else. And maybe, while we’re doing that, we get to feel it all over again ourselves.

The world reflects what we bring to it. So maybe today, wherever you are, let a little of that wonder show. Let yourself fall in love again with the life you’re living and the story you have to share.

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I’d love to hear from you!

Is there a story from your life that you’ve told so many times it’s lost its magic? Can you look at it again with fresh eyes?

Do you have any tricks to help reconnect with your stories?

What’s one small moment from today that you could let yourself be amazed by? Journal about it and see what happens! ❤

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