How Stories Help Us Heal

Creative EmpowermentWriting Fiction to Heal

Dec 3

I have long extolled the value stories have as a healing modality. It is, to this day, one of the most powerful recovery tools for any ailment possible in the human condition. Whether we face physical illness, mental illness, emotional illness, and more — there is a story out there to be read. A story that needs to be told. A story that is there to help. Stories have always been the connective tissue that binds humans together. Stories are the way in which we make sense of the world. Stories are how we create shared languages. Shared pain. Shared wins. Stories are like the tiny threads in our global tapestry.

While I have written at length about the healing power of stories in my own experience, I wanted to share with you how others have healed from stories, too. I wanted to show you that it doesn’t matter who you are — stories can help lift you from a place of despair to a place of understanding. A place of hope and recovery. I wanted to show you, with others’ words, just how powerful stories can be.

Side note: Maybe you will find some new books to add to your to-be-read list as I have after reading all of these amazing stories of healing.

“Earlier this year, when our son’s pet guinea pig died, I was at a loss for how to help him grieve. It felt different than how I would explain a human loss to him, but then I remembered reading and loving the children’s book Charlotte’s Web. I wasn’t sure what I was getting us into, but I had a feeling that it would be a much better introduction to death than what I was prepared to give him on my own. Turns out, through Charlotte’s subtle but meaningful passages about death, we began to grieve his guinea pig’s loss together. At point, he looked at me said, Mama, I’m glad we had Fred as long as we did. He was a great pet and I’ll miss him. But now I can love another pet.”

“A more recent book that has helped me heal is The Hate U Give. It’s the first time I’ve seen my reality depicted in a book in a way that felt so true to my reality. It started a new kind of “old” conversation. I’ve been dealing with and talking about these issues with my family my whole life — being a black woman and having black brothers. But for the first time, white people were starting to have the conversation, too.”

“I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I recently got a lot of healing from the book The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. I’m disabled and live at home 99 percent of the time. Though I’m forced inside mostly involuntarily, I could recognize the manic and depressive sides that Anna goes through in the book. The endless hours that stretch on for days. I even understood why she drank the way she did. I have gone through periods like that. But what really helped me was to know that sometimes the things I think I see, could be true. That it’s not all in my head. That I’m not crazy.”

“Here’s one for you! When I was in highschool, I was the Dungeons and Dragons kind of nerd. I sat at the nerd table… had nerdy friends. I was constantly judged for it. But after I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, I kinda realized those jocks and assholes didn’t matter. They wouldn’t matter past highschool. It gave me a weird sense of confidence that I had something they didn’t. Looking back, I was right. I don’t know where half of them are at, but it doesn’t matter because they don’t matter to me any more than I mattered to them.”

“Don’t burn me at the stake for this but 50 Shades of Grey really healed my relationship with sex believe it or not. I won’t go into details but after I read the series and made my partner read it, we ended up talking about our past sexual relationships and how certain things we were attempting in the bedroom turned us off or on. We talked about how we could compromise to both get our needs met and we have such a healthy sex life, now! I know it’s probably not kosher, but 50 Shades saved my marriage and sex life!”

“My first time reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian felt like I’d stepped into a portal into the past but also my present. My heritage is part Indian though my parents didn’t teach us much about our cultural heritage. Most of what I learned was through television shows, movies and books. When I read The Absolutely True Diary book, it was the first time I recognized some of my own cultural challenges. I related to Junior even if we didn’t share the same background. His struggles reflected my own and I understood that I wasn’t alone in feeling so lost in multiple worlds.”

“Whenever I’m in need of healing, I go straight to The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera. It works everytime. Why? Because the book is a masterpiece in getting people to see what really matters. And usually, it’s none of the stuff we worry ourselves about. You want to heal? Read this book. It’s all you need.”

“I grew up poor. We didn’t have toys or electronics, but my mother loved the library. One day, she brought home The Swiss Family Robinson and read it to us before bed. Acting out the voices and everything. It gave us a sense of adventure even though we only stayed in that tiny bedroom. I only knew we were poor when I got into highschool because my mother gave us books that told us we were much more.”

“Is it too cliché to say that Untamed completely changed my life? Oh well, it did. Though it’s not fiction, Glennon Doyle’s stories helped me see through the bullshit of my own stories. She gave me permission to stop giving a shit what other people thought of me and encouraged me to embrace the very thing I am: a goddamn cheetah!”

“You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero completely changed my relationship with myself. I know there are hundreds of self-help books out there that probably could have taught me what I needed to know, but I resonated with Jen’s way of writing. The way she doesn’t mince words and talks straight to the heart. I am a badass and I have Jen Sincero to thank for it.”

“You want to talk about healing? I bawled like a newborn baby when I read Tuesdays with Morrie. There were so many life lessons in that book, I read and then re-read it. So many regrets and do-overs come to mind and yet, it offers comfort and peace, too. Yeah, when I think about healing, I think about Tuesdays with Morrie.”

“When I think of the first book that helped me heal, I think of Where the Red Fern Grows. My father read it to me and it’s still one of my favorite books. I read it to my son, and I believe he’ll read it to his when he gets old enough. It has a timelessness to it about land and growing up, getting responsibility, and death. I’ve never cried so much as I did toward the end of that book. It’ll be forever burned into my memory.”

I want to sincerely thank all of those who sent in messages about stories that have helped them heal. I think each one of these is a powerful example of the way stories reach into us and pull our heartstrings directly. It’s the connection we individually feel with the books, yet the power is in sharing it all. The story and how it helps us heal. This is an ongoing project of mine (collecting messages like these ones) so if you have a story that has helped you heal in your life — consider sending it in. I’ll always let you know when/how I use it and always with your permission. You can email me at hello@jadeeby.com for more details as well!

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