Charlie Sheen made me cry

I’m 13. I'm watching a Charlie Sheen movie by myself, and I’m crying. 

I’ve been crying almost from the moment the lights went off in the cinema–and I have no idea why. 

Classes finished a few days ago, most of my friends went to the beach already but I was stuck here, so I decided to catch a movie on my own. 

About 10 minutes in, my eyes felt moist, I tried to blink that away, then I rubbed them, and eventually a tear or two came out. 

That happened throughout the whole movie. 

I’m watching The Three Musketeers, which also has Kiefer Sutherland, that good-looking Chris something from the movie where Al Pacino is blind, and a whole bunch of other actors I kind of recognise but could never name. 

It’s a fairly run-of-the-mill adventure caper. It’s fun enough, I guess, if a little predictable, but what it definitely isn’t is sad. Or moving. Or anything that would justify all these tears. 

I look around and the few people in the cinema are eating their popcorn, laughing and enjoying the film. No one is having the same reaction I’m having. 

What’s wrong with me?? 

*

A couple of weeks later, it happens again. I manage to get invited to a friend’s beach house, but when we are watching some TV my eyes mist up again. 

His mom asks me, 

“Francisco, have you been to an ophthalmologist recently?”

“Sorry, been to a what??”

“An eye doctor.”

“Ah. No. Why?”

“You’re squinting all the time. You probably need glasses.”

She was right. I did. Which made me really pissed off. 

Wasn’t I uncool enough without having to wear glasses?? 

I didn’t realise this back then, but what I should have felt was… relief. 

Because it might not be cool to wear glasses… 

But it’s a lot worse to be a teenager who cries at a Charlie Sheen action movie 😅

What’s the meaning of that??

Last week, I told you that story = anecdote + meaning.

That’s all well and good, but I need to be clear here: just because you’ve got an anecdote, it doesn’t mean you’ll have a meaning for it. 

Sure, sometimes it will be clear enough, but not always. Or at least not always there and then. Sometimes you need distance from what happened to understand it better. Sometimes you’ll need something else to happen before it makes sense. And sometimes… you’ll just need time. 

Throw nothing out

So just because an anecdote seems to have no meaning, that’s no reason to forget about it–it’s the opposite! Some of the stories I tell most often weren’t obviously stories (or at least good stories) at the time they happened. 

That’s why you need to collect your potential stories. If something WTF happens (weird, thought-provoking or funny), write it down! Tag it. Keep it safe. 

One day, maybe soon, maybe many years in the future…

It might just become the best story you’ll ever tell 🤘

-Francisco 

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Getting clarity through your story to stand out from all the other coaches, speakers and entrepreneurs out there 

2. If you dream of speaking on the Red Dot, take this Scorecard and instantly discover how likely your idea is to be accepted by a TED-style organizing committee

3. If you (or your team) got any storytelling challenges, I’m sure there’s something we can do together ;-)

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