At my core, I am a storyteller.

I love hearing, reading experiencing, re-telling, and being a part of them. I get swept up into the narratives and can’t wait to hear the ending. I think that is why at my core I am drawn to weddings: they tell a story yes, but also represent a million other stories that brought these two people to this place. Stories of families going back generations and moves and hardships and celebrations that brought these two souls to a place where they connected and became an irreversible part of one another’s lives.

I think we all have a story to tell. We all have a path that life takes us on and sometimes we take deliberate turns while other times we let the path dictate our directions. But I also think we are all trying too hard to constantly change our stories. We want to shape them, improve them, modify them, put a filter on them, or make the world think that our story is as perfect in our messy core as the Instagram we just posted. And while it may not be perfect, it is beautiful. Stop. Read that again: Your story is beautiful. We need to stop waiting for our story to be what we want and start celebrating what it is. What is happening in the here and now are the moments you’ll look back on in a year and see how they brought you to the place you were striving for all along. They will become the footsteps that defined your path.

So what are we waiting for? What are we afraid of? In her book, Savor Shauna Niequist says: “If you want your community (and I would edit to say life) to be marked by radical honesty, by risky, terrifying, ultimately redemptive truth-telling, you must start telling your truth first.” Only you can tell your story.

If we want our lives, our relationships, and our places to change then we need to stop striving for the perfect story and start celebrating and living our stories honestly today. Only by that will we have one that is worth telling and documenting for the generations to come.

So, what story are you telling today?