Sharing Your Story

I am the story I tell myself, and so are you. 

We are, like the books we read, a series of chapters bound together by our values, our experiences, our choices and our sense of self. When people we love die, it can feel like the pages we’d set aside for those chapters in our lives have been rewritten, but not by our own pen. It’s as if these pages were drafted without our choice, without our storytelling. 

But as we come together in shared experiences with our peers, our fellow survivors, either in an Online Group, at a Seminar, at a Retreat, or even reading this together - we begin to take hold of the pen again. As we share our own story and actively listen to others, we are choosing the narrative that takes the pages of our life’s book; and it helps our fellow survivors do the same.

Photo: Unsplash

This expression of our story is, in and of itself, a coping skill we can use to heal our hearts. Storytelling can be done through our oral stories, like many of us share here at TAPS. But, it can also be done through writing, painting, collaging, dancing, gardening, and so much more. 

We have the ability to choose how  we share our story and with whom  we share it. We cannot control many of the things we experience in this life, but we can  control the way we tell the story. 

We are the stories we tell ourselves. Today, my story is one of an expansive family across the nation, bound together by love, a vow of healing and our friend grief, an unexpected character with never-ending lessons of gratitude and resilience. 

We invite you to explore the way you share your story and have a few TAPS resources below to help you along the way! 

Write Your Story

• Join the TAPS Writers’ Circle
  • If you like to write and find it healing, we invite you to join our caring and creative circle. Email online@taps.org to learn more about the Writers’ Circle, to subscribe and to begin submitting your pieces today.
• Share your story with TAPS
• Find a Resource from the TAPS Institute for Hope & Healing
  • Register for Finding Your Voice Through Writing on April 12, 2022
  • Watch Grief Journaling in the New Year
  • Watch From Grief to Peace - Journaling for Life after Loss

Voice Your Story

• Join TAPS Online Groups to share your story or attend an in-person event in your community, region or nationally!

Create Your Story

• Register for our Coping Skills Workshops where you can explore your story through art, movement and mindfulness.
• Explore your story through art and read about how in Vision Board: Creating a Life You Envision.

Rachel Hunsell is the surviving sister of  U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal J. Kyle Price, and serves as TAPS Program Manager, Outdoor Engagement.