STORIES of early birthdays, ballet mishaps, medical emergencies and stealing loo roll from a public toilet were passed around at Narrative 4 Limerick for their first story exchange for adults this week.
Narrative 4, the international not-for-profit organisation, brought a group of ten participants to their headquarters on O’Connell Street where they were paired up with somebody they had never met to share a short story from their life that played a big part in the person they’ve become.
“The aim tonight was to expose the community to what we do, build support for Narrative 4 and hopefully hold more adult story exchanges in the future. The majority of our programmes are in schools and based around education. Yet, It is a really valuable exercise for adults as well,” explained the group’s Operations Manager Kelsey Roberts.
After the participants exchanged stories, some taking a walk around the city on what was a beautifully warm evening, others opting to stay back and sip on some tea – participants would then offer a retelling of their partner’s story, in the first person, to the rest of the group.
This saw the storytellers take on the narrative of people from different upbringings, the opposite sex, a younger person at Christmas or a birthday.
The story exchange gives people the chance to step out of their comfort zone, with Narrative 4 Regional Director James Lawlor, Regional Director describing the experience as a “real part of being human that we don’t do anymore because of changing lifestyles”.
He described the event as a great opportunity to train people in empathy and communication but also create connections and get to know people in this and other communities.
Ms Roberts said that although she was from the United States and probably had a very different upbringing, the narrative themes and emotions were the same.
“That’s a big takeaway, we all experience the same emotions, same feelings. But they’re all in different settings, it’s great to listen to others and you can always relate to others’ feelings,” she explained.
June 23-27 will see almost 100 people from ten countries, four continents, attending when Narrative 4 Limerick host the 2017 Global Summit which will look back on the distance the organisation has come since being established in 2013.
