What Stories Teach Us

Hello there, and welcome to another bookish post! I have a little under 100 pages left of Claire Fuller’s ‘Swimming Lessons’ left at the time of writing, and so I hope to have another book review for you soon. But for now, I wanted to take some time to write about a bookish reflection I had recently (yes, you can put ‘bookish’ in front of anything and if you think otherwise, you’re wrong).

So, what have I been reflecting on? Well, if you think back to the stories we all read as children, there is often some underlying theme – a lesson to learn – that forms the basis of each story. Those lessons could be about anything from caring for others, learning to share, or about believing in yourself and many of us (whether we realise it or not) carry those lessons with us.

But what about the stories we read as adults? We often think of them as merely being works of fiction, but even the stories we read as adults are crammed full of lessons to learn. They may be lessons about our purpose in life, understanding the daily struggles of others, or dealing with grief. These lessons may be much deeper in meaning than those in children’s books, but they are no less important.

So, why was I reflecting on this? Well, there are sometimes questions of why you would both reading fiction over non-fiction, why play make-believe when you could be learning about something ‘real’. I have always rejected this idea, but this reflection reminds me of the real-world implications of fiction. Fiction books are rarely entirely abstract from the real-world – Even fantasy novels will carry lessons that we can use in our day-to-day lives.

Not only is this form of learning entertaining, but many writers (from fiction writers to business management writers, and even many lifestyle/medical writers) are now recognising the powers of stories. After all, it’s not often that we truly connect with a fact or a statistic. Even the most shocking of statistics only stays with us momentarily before we continue with the world as normal. But the best of stories stay with us forever – I still remember how I felt when I read 1984, and I’m pretty sure that feeling will stay with me forever. And this is why they are probably the best method of teaching life lessons.

So, when you read your next book, try to pick out the different lessons the story teaches us, whether obvious or subtle. You may even want to consider how you can apply those lessons in your life – the choice is yours (just make sure you don’t take away from your enjoyment of the book). The moral of this reflection is, basically – Never underestimate the power of a good story.

This was a slightly different kind of post for you today, but it is always good to reflect once in a while, whether on global challenges or the more trivial aspects of life. If you would like to see more of these kinds of ‘reflections’, then please do let me know in the comments below, but for now, I’m off to grab myself a (decaf) coffee 🙂

TBT