Broken to Blessed
Welcome to Broken to Blessed, the podcast dedicated to empowering women survivors of childhood sexual abuse on their journey from brokenness to healing and transformation. I'm your host, Michelle Hall, a certified Christian Life Coach and a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. Join us as we explore powerful insights, personal stories, and practical tools to support survivors on their path to reclaiming their lives and discovering their inherent strength.
Broken to Blessed
Reclaiming Your Voice: Transformative Storytelling from Silence to Empowerment
Have you ever felt silenced by your past, as if life's trials have stolen your voice? Our latest episode guides you through the liberating process of reclaiming that voice, as Ms V the Storyteller joins me, Michelle Hall, in sharing potent narratives of adversity and triumph. Together, we unveil our encounters with childhood trauma and how storytelling has become a healing force in our lives. Ms V recounts her journey from the stifling silence under her father's harsh words to finding the courage to confront bullies and speak out, reminding us all how taking ownership of our stories is a powerful step toward self-empowerment.
Navigating the complexities of a post-trauma life is no easy feat. We delve into the intricacies of shaping personal narratives that serve not only as a beacon of hope but also as a guide for others embarking on similar paths. We tackle the challenge of managing painful memories and discuss practical techniques for those ready to embark on their healing journey. Our conversation is a testament to the strength found in shared experiences and the transformative impact of owning one's truth.
In the quest to turn brokenness into a blast of newfound freedom, Ms V offers her expertise through online classes and one-on-one coaching, targeting those ready to harness their experiences for personal growth or professional storytelling. We encourage you to connect with her and begin the journey of crafting your narrative with precision and heart. By the end of our conversation, you'll be inspired to lay claim to your story, with a voice that resonates with authenticity and courage, opening a gateway to both personal liberation and the power to light the way for others.
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Email: valisonelliot@gmail.com
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The Heart is the Key by Ericka D. James
Link to the episode with Ericka D. James
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Journey to Freedom Questionnaire
Hello, esteemed ones, have you ever tried to share your story your story that includes childhood sexual abuse, perhaps to inspire or encourage someone who has experienced something similar?
Michelle Hall:Or, like me, try to share your story on a larger scale when your work is directly related to your story? Well, that's not always an easy thing to do, and I have a special guest today who I'm going to be talking with about owning our stories and being able to share them. But before you're able to share your story, you have to be able to fully own your story, and that may require some work. Tune in as I have a discussion with Ms Valeria Elliott, aka Ms V the Storyteller, about owning our stories. I'm Michelle Hall, christian Life Coach and host of Broken to Blessed, a podcast designed for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse, where the goal is to empower, encourage and inspire women survivors who are on their healing journey to keep on going. Healing is possible. I know that to be true because I'm also a survivor and I've done it, and I'm here to help you do the same.
Michelle Hall:Hello esteemed ones, and welcome to this episode of Broken to Blast. And today I have a very special guest. She is a repeat guest and she is a very good friend. She is a fellow podcaster and I'm going to have her introduce herself. It is Ms V, the storyteller. Welcome to the podcast, ms V.
Ms. V The Storyteller:Thank you so much for having me, Michelle. One thing you all need to know about Michelle, Michelle is my number one fan. I have a podcast and she's been listening and supporting me from the very beginning, so I am so honored that she's having me back here for a second time. I am a storyteller, I'm an author, I'm a teacher, I teach online classes and I love telling stories. I'm a storyteller because I believe stories have so much power. They help us to connect. Stories help us to build confidence within ourselves knowing our story. You know, when we share our story with other people, we help them. We help them to see that, yeah, I've been through something, but I've come out of it and I'm better for it. So I'm a storyteller and I just love what I do.
Michelle Hall:That's great. That's great. Yes, Ms V officially a part of the Broken to Bessed family, and I am so glad to have you back. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. We're going to be talking about stories and people owning their stories. So, first of all, I'd like to start out asking you what does owning your story mean to you?
Ms. V The Storyteller:Power. I have the power over my own story, so I own it. It's mine to share. No one can tell me what I can and cannot say about my story, because it's mine. And when you know your story and what you've been through and how you've come out of your story, it gives you power. It makes you understand why you're wired the way that you are and it helps you to be more bold. It helps you to be able to say hey, yep, I've been through something, but look at me now you know. So for me, the word that I would use it would be power. It gives me power.
Michelle Hall:That is indeed true. That is indeed true. So would you share with my listeners your story?
Ms. V The Storyteller:Oh sure, my story when I was about six years old. I find that when we're younger we usually go through something in our lives that's kind of. Sometimes there's negative things that happen to us. And when I was six my dad was a yeller. He yelled all the time and apparently I came into the world very sensitive and he would yell all the time. And I remember one day this man was coming down at me, he was yelling like going crazy and my little six year old self, standing looking at this man who looked like he was a tree giant, just yelling at me, and in that moment I told myself do not say a word, don't open your mouth, don't say a word. And that's exactly what I did. I did not open my mouth, I just stood there staring at him and just looking at him, yelling at me. And then he stopped yelling and literally just walked away. I didn't get put on punishment, he didn't pop me nothing, and I thought, wow, that worked. So from that day on I silenced myself, I lost my voice, I stopped talking because it worked at home. So when I went to school, let's try that school, don't say anything. And it worked, I didn't get any trouble. My parents would get notes home saying I wish your daughter would talk more. But I'm like, hey, I'm not getting notes home like my sister Hers was when she was talking too much. So I'm like this is perfect, I'm not really getting any trouble.
Ms. V The Storyteller:And as the years went on, not only did I lose my voice, but I lost my self-esteem. I began to lose myself because people would talk over me, they would ignore me. I became invisible. And then, when I got in high school, I got bullied physically bullied, not what people call bullying today Because you know people are going to joke you when you in high school and junior high school kids of me, they're going to joke you or call you names and all that. But I got physically bullied and that was the one time that I chose to speak up for myself. And then I get rammed into a locker for a week because I spoke up. And in my mind it was like see, see what happened. When you open your mouth, you get rammed into a locker.
Ms. V The Storyteller:And then I thought, when I graduated from high school, that it was going to be better. I was like I don't have to deal with students, I don't have to deal with classmates, I don't have to deal with. You know, I'll be in the real world. Adults were just as worse. They were just as mean. Especially if I'm fluffy, I've always been fluffy I don't say fat, cause that's mean. So I say fluffy and people are mean, and then you don't talk and you're quiet and you shy. I'm like a target. You know, I'm literally a target, and if I saw a group of people I would walk all the way around because I knew the fat jokes was gonna come, you know. Or the mute jokes she don't talk, she don't say anything, and all those things. So the adults were just as mean.
Ms. V The Storyteller:And when I became a Christian, that is when things began to change for me, because I became a Christian. Things were still happening to me. And why not? I had had it. I said listen, lord, I can't live like this anymore. I cannot keep walking around and allowing people to mistreat me. They talk over me, to act like I'm invisible. You know, when I try to say something, they cut me off, they joke me, they talk about me, they bully me, and I have had enough. And I was like Lord, please give me my voice. That helped me to speak up for myself. Let me tell you something. Y'all, when you pray and you ask the Lord something, be careful, cause God will honor that prayer and God did.
Ms. V The Storyteller:But I went from not talking at all to, straight up, cusser outer. I was cussing everybody out. Because of all those years of being mistreated, I became the people who mistreated me because that's all I experienced and we become what we experienced sometimes and I was like attacking people. I was gonna get you before you got me. I'm like uh-uh, who are you talking to? Oh no, you got the wrong person. Look that little girl that didn't talk. She is gone. You got the cuss out. Come on, you know.
Ms. V The Storyteller:And I turned into that and I didn't really realize it until one day I was at a football game and you all know how loud a football game is outside. Listen, God silenced the entire stadium just so that I could hear myself going in on this man. I was cussing him out. I mean, my mouth was a lethal weapon. I was tearing him up and I heard myself. I was like, oh my God, do you hear yourself? In that moment I realized you know, I'm a bully. I have turned into the people who mistreated me.
Ms. V The Storyteller:By the time I got to my car I was in a full-blown cry. I was so upset, I mean I was just bawling and that night I got back on my knees and I said, lord, I need you to help me to get a happy medium. I need you to help me to season my words. I don't want to go back to not talking, definitely don't want to go back to her and I really don't want to be the cusser out and professing to be a Christian. I mean, come on and so, progressively, god helped me to get a medium.
Ms. V The Storyteller:Now, listen, I'm a be 100. You catch me on a bad day. I don't know who's gonna show up. I try to control it. I will take a break and take a breath and a pause. I will go to the bathroom. If I feel the cusser out of riling up, I'll go to the bathroom and I'm like, lord, please help me, but I will address the issue.
Ms. V The Storyteller:I no longer allow people to mistreat me, talk over me without addressing the issue, because I don't want to hold all that stuff inside of me. So what I do is I'll take a breather If I need to take a date, but I'm gonna circle back around and I'm gonna address the issue Once I pray about it once. I pull myself together and then I ask the Lord, season my words so that they will receive what I have to say, out of love and not out of anger. Sometimes I have to forgive the person before I can address them. But God has really, and he's still, helping me daily. It's a daily walk. I can't say I'm 50, 50. I can't say no. It's a daily struggle, but I have my voice back. I'm using my voice to help people. I share my story with people so that it can help them to understand how powerful knowing our story is and having our voices and using them.
Michelle Hall:That is. I've heard your story before, of course, because I do listen to your podcast and you've had it on there several times, but I am always in awe when I hear your story and you talk about how you didn't talk for so many years as a kid.
Michelle Hall:And to walk into your life at a point where you're hosting a podcast and you're doing coaching and teaching, and knowing that you've had some other jobs where you were in front of people and had to use your voice.
Michelle Hall:It's so amazing to me to see how God can bring us from one place to the other, and it's like a complete 180.
Michelle Hall:And so your story has some hardships from childhood that caused you to lose your voice or to stop using your voice, and then by doing that, by making that choice, it created other things with the bullying and the being picked on and, you know, being overlooked and things of that, that nature. So, of course, you know that I work with women survivors of childhood sexual abuse, which is, of course, trauma as well, and what I wanted to talk to you about, as it relates to owning your story, is how does that work when there's trauma involved? I've heard your story and you literally just tell that and however way you feel you want to tell, that is something that you don't exclude, is something that you don't overlook, because that's a significant part of the story. So I know you work with people and helping them craft their stories. So have you worked with anyone who's had trauma and how did working with them, how did they incorporate that or how did they process that into their, into creating and owning their story?
Ms. V The Storyteller:One of the things that God had to do with me when I started my podcast. Well, first of all, God has a sense of humor because he told me he wanted me to be a storyteller. Tell us somebody who didn't talk forever and then went from non-talking to a cusser outer. I'm like God had to have a sense of humor because it's like you know what's gonna come out of me on my podcast. I might not say nothing or cuss somebody else come on, God. But God had to take me all the way back for me to understand why I lost my voice. I had to go back, and that is one of the things that I do when I'm teaching my class and helping people to find their story. Your story is so important that you understand why you are the way that you are. When you understand that, then you're able to reach other people. I've had students who've had sexual abuse and that was the thing. That was that one thing that got them, that really changed their life. And I've had quite a few students who've had really bad traumas in their life. One of them was not prepared to deal with it. She was not prepared to deal with it, so there was some inner healing that needed to be done. So I'll take a side note with her and I'm like, okay, well, let's deal with this, because this is the only way you can be authentically who you are is you have to deal with it. Now you can deal with it in small segments, like you can say, okay, I'm gonna just deal with this part of it. Have a long it takes you to do, but you need to deal with it. That is the only way that you can be free. You have to go back and you have to go.
Ms. V The Storyteller:I don't share all of the parts of my story. I say my dad was a yeller, but there was other parts to it too, of course, and I had to forgive my father. I had to go back and I had to forgive my mom, because my mom, she would tell my dad stuff and she knew how he was gonna react or respond. And I call her a snitch. I say you just, you be telling everything, you a snitch, and you know what he's gonna do and you know what he's gonna say. And then you pat us up after it's like but if you hadn't told him, you wouldn't have to pat us up. Right, I had to go back and I had to do some really inner healing and I would tell anyone when you are starting your story, you have to go back and you have to deal with those issues.
Ms. V The Storyteller:Once you deal with those issues, then you have to be comfortable within yourself sharing and you can pick and choose how much you want to share. You can change the names of the characters. We don't know your story, but the thing about knowing your story is when you share it, you help other people. You help people who are struggling and going through. Because you've come through it, you went back and dealt with those issues. You were healed, you forgiven, you've gone through therapy whatever you needed to do. I went to therapy twice, you know, because I had some issues that I needed to, but we overcome all of them and now we share our story. So knowing your share, your story and going back and dealing with those issues is so key to finding your story and sharing it.
Michelle Hall:Yes, that is crucial. So of course, I've worked with you some with crafting my own story, and my story doesn't include childhood sexual abuse as well as some other things. And one of the things that I know I struggled with when I was learning to craft this, and even when I started my podcast, is how much do I share? So I like to talk about that a little bit more, because when there is hardships or traumas or things involved with your story, everybody's stories are different. The details are different, the extent that they are affected may be different. So how do you determine how much of your story to share?
Ms. V The Storyteller:It depends on your audience. That is so key knowing your audience, who you're in front of, like my story when I share my story. There's different components of my story that I will share, depending on my audience, like, for instance, there's another part of my story is that my father got the yelling and the abusive way that he used to treat us from his father. His father was an alcoholic, so that's all he knew. And then, depending on my audience, I share that part of the story. I share the part about my grandfather who was an alcoholic who was verbally abusive. That's all he knew. That's all his kids knew about him, so they picked up those ways. But when I just shared my story with you, I didn't tell that part of the story because I didn't feel like that was necessary per se. But then if I'm in front of a younger group of students let's say I'm in front of some students high school students, college students or whatever I will share the actual story of when I got bullied, the actual story itself of the person who did it.
Ms. V The Storyteller:So when you're sharing your story, knowing your audience, some audience you can go deeper and they can handle it. They are probably, especially if you're in front of a group of women who have been molested, you can go deep. They've been there, they know that and it's probably best that you do, because you can help them through there. But if you go in front of an audience, let's say, of, like, an audience like me who hasn't been necessarily sexually abused but abused somewhere else, then you might want to leave out some of the details that you would in this other group. So the key is knowing your audience who are you in front of, and then you're able freely to share, because you would be more open. If you're in front of someone who's been through all the stuff that you've been through, but the people who have not, you may not feel as open, but you can still share your story. Just leave out parts.
Michelle Hall:Okay, okay. So that's important, that's important. So, even before you get to the point of sharing your story, just the ownership of your story we talked a little while ago and you mentioned that you had someone who wasn't quite ready to tell a certain part of their story because they still needed some healing. So I can imagine that that is that's difficult for you as a storyteller coach, when you have someone who needs to share their story. Maybe it's for their work or you know their entrepreneur and they're trying to, you know, be effective in their business and craft their story and there is healing that is needed. So I think you mentioned something about you helped them work through that. Or do you suggest they get counseling? What? How do you deal with that?
Ms. V The Storyteller:So what I do is first, if they well, by the time we get to that point, they know me pretty well. They know me. I've shared my story with them. They kind of know me pretty well. You know, I've had to stop and pray with someone. You know I'm a Christian, so I had to stop and I had to pray with someone. And then, you know, I've also had to say okay, you have to sit down with yourself and decide what you want to do. It's ultimately up to you. If you're not ready, then we can stop right now until you get ready. But at some point you're going to have to deal with those issues. And it's not necessarily for you know your story, but for yourself, so that you can be mentally, physically, emotionally healthy. Yes, not going back and dealing with those issues Now. Once you deal with those issues, I can help you to craft the story where you don't have to tell all your business. I can help you to craft it. But to get the point across and there have been someone that I share it Usually what I do is I always share stories with them.
Ms. V The Storyteller:I tell them about me going to therapy, I go back and I tell them the very first therapy session I had, I literally sat in the chair and bust out crying and she stopped and she said let's pray. And that's exactly what we had to do, because I would not have heard a word. She said because I was so emotionally damaged and that I just cried. I just bust out crying, you know. And so you know, if I feel somebody there, I'm like well, you know what let's talk about? Maybe therapy, because maybe therapy can help you. And once you go to therapy, then we can circle back and we can craft that story. But it always deals with healing. You have to heal, you have to forgive. So that's usually what I do in my sessions. If I come across someone, I'll either pray with them and we'll work through it together, or, you know, I'll ask them do you want to proceed? You know what do you feel comfortable with? They'll tell me, or I'll show the story about me going to therapy.
Michelle Hall:Okay, yeah, I can relate to that so strongly because I held on to my story. I held on to my story for years. I was molested and sexually abused around age 10, and I never told anyone until I was in my 40s. So that's a long time to hold on to trauma. And of course, it was not only that. There were other things that I had hardships with as a kid and into my grown-up life, because life be life and stuff, and so I was not going to tell anyone. I always say I find it amazing as well that I am able to share my story so very fully and openly with no shame, no guilt, no anything. Now when, like 10 years ago, I was at the point where, yep, I'm never telling this, I'm never telling this, but the bridge that got me here is the healing. It's the healing.
Michelle Hall:So, important Yep, and so I had to go through the counseling as well. Therapy. For a few years, I think I was in therapy, probably three years. My therapist left and came back, and when she came back she called me up. I'm like, ooh, she must knew I needed some help.
Ms. V The Storyteller:She called me back and said I'm back.
Michelle Hall:I was like, yep, schedule me in. But that healing point is so very important because I can imagine the difficulty. I don't even know that you would even be able to share your story if you don't own your story. I don't think you'd be able to share it well or share it effectively if you haven't owned it. And owning it to me means acknowledging it all the good, the bad, the pain and all of that. And with that coming forth should come healing, if you're ready to deal with it. And so it's a process. It is definitely a process. Now let me ask you this, and then we're going to probably wrap this up. But so when your story has trauma and pain and hardship in it, what do you think about spinning? Well, I don't want to say spinning, but do you want to make it positive? How do you craft your story and tell your story without it sounding negative and so terrible?
Ms. V The Storyteller:Well, I want to go back real quick to something that you just said and you were talking about. You weren't going to share your story and you carried it around for all those years. And it reminds me of Michelle and I are part of the Alliance and there's a book that the CEO of the Alliance has and it talks about healing and one of the things she uses in analogies about suitcases, purses and all that. When you hold on to stuff, you're literally carrying around baggage. You're carrying it around for 40 years. I mean, you're literally. You feel heavy, yes, but when you begin to deal with those issues and you begin to heal from it, you start to feel lighter. And when you feel lighter than you're able to share because you don't have those bondages and those bags holding you back, yes.
Ms. V The Storyteller:So if you're out there and you have these bags of being molested, of being raped or whatever those things are, you need to get those things off of you. If you need to go to therapy, go to therapy, whatever you knew, but don't carry them around. They make you look old, you unhappy, you sad. No, nobody wants to walk around their entire life and look back on that life and say, hey, you are hot mess when you can be free. Yeah, back to your question which I forgot.
Michelle Hall:How do you frame your story when it's, you know, when it is, you know, has pain and trauma in it. How do you craft it to where it doesn't sound so negative? And so you know, dragging people down?
Ms. V The Storyteller:Well, in my, when I teach my class, one of the things is I always say that you don't want to leave your audience sad or you don't want to leave them guessing or whatever, and make sure that there's always something positive at the end that you learned. When I share my story and some of my stories are a little bit like when I was bullied that that story is a little tight. I should say it's a little heavy. I use humor. I use my humor in it to break it up so that it won't be because nobody wants to sit there and feel all this pain in their heart for a whole 20, 30 minutes. I break it up the same way with when I share my story, if I add the parting about my grandfather. There's a little piece of the story that I add in and I talk about how my grandfather was an alcoholic and how he was a yell. But he yelled at everybody but us. He didn't yell at us me and my siblings because we call him granddaddy and everybody else called him Big Apple. And Big Apple was this dance that they used to do back in his day and he could do it really well. So everybody called him Big Apple, but he loved the fact that we all call him Grand Dad because my mom was not having. You don't know him like that. That's your grandfather, you call him Granddaddy. So see how I add that in and it lightens it up and then I carry on with the story so you can add little tidbits, you can even share, like, for instance, if it's like when my dad, when my mom was walking past and I'm just giving you an example if you're sharing your story and my dad was in the room and he was about to molest me and you're telling that really detailed story, you can lighten it up just a little bit by saying I thought I heard my mom coming down the hall and I was like mama, open the door, open the door, please, mama, open the door, open the door and bust him upside his head. You can share, like lighten it up by sharing a thought that you had, or like a memory or something that's kind of funny even though it's tight. So using your humor, pulling in little tidbits of stories, sharing your emotional, because even when we're in the midst of something like I'm going to give you a prime example of something I was going somewhere and I felt so unsafe and I have this little knife that I have in my car.
Ms. V The Storyteller:It's like a three inch knife that I keep in my car and if I got to run in somewhere and it's real dark, I put the knife in my pocket and I carry it. And I was sharing with someone about this and I was like I was so scared. I'm too big, I can't run. I got bad knees, and so when I came in, when I got out of the car, it was a group of people and there was these guys behind me and I thought to myself y'all don't want to come and mess with me because I got a knife.
Ms. V The Storyteller:It's only a three inch knife, but if I stab you with this knife you're going to be hurt. So I was telling my brother about the situation, where I was and what was going on, and he was like girl, you're supposed to stab and drag. I said stab and drag. I said when I stab, that's, you know I'm going to hurt you, but if you stab and drag you're going to catch a case. You know you're going to jail because they're going to bleed out, and so that's what I'm saying. That situation was pretty tough.
Ms. V The Storyteller:But, I lighten it up and see you're laughing. He'll laugh at the stab and drag.
Ms. V The Storyteller:But in the midst of it I'm walking, I can't run and all I got is like this little knife. You know I'm in a situation but thank God nothing happened to me, you know. But the whole thing was. I felt I put humor into it to lighten it up. You know what I'm saying. So using humor, pulling in little stories, it helps to lighten it up, and even for yourself, because when you're sharing a tough story you get emotional and your throat get all choked up and all that. Sometimes you need to add a little bit of something in there just to break it up.
Michelle Hall:Okay, yeah, yeah, you are. You are hilarious. That's why I love your podcast. I go back sometime and listen to some of the older ones where where you were telling stories constantly and I was in the first year or so and you were telling just different stories and I would, I would be in the car driving home from work and I would be cracking up because I'm like what is she coming up with this week? So I love your use of humor, even in heavy, you know, with heavy subject matters, heavy stories, and you know I think you have to be very strategic with that, especially when you're talking about something like, you know, childhood sexual abuse. You have to be really careful with with humor. I don't know if humor would be the best way to do it.
Ms. V The Storyteller:Well, what I mean even in that? Not to cut you off but even in those deep ones.
Ms. V The Storyteller:What I'm saying is, if you share a thought that you were having sharing. That's why I say add that in to a thought that you may be having. You know, or or like you can lighten it up by simply saying I wish I could be somewhere else, god, I wish I, I wish I could be at the beach right now, at the amusement park where I'm laughing and and all that you know. You just add that in, not necessarily because it depends on where it is.
Michelle Hall:Yes, yes, yes, it depends on the story and what you're. You know what you're specifically talking about. So it sounds like to me, when you're owning your story and you're wanting to share your story, it requires a lot of vulnerability because you're, because you're putting yourself out there, you're, you're opening yourself up to whatever extent you choose to, because that's something that I struggled with too. How much do I put out about this and that? So, if you have a final word, we'll talk about vulnerability and how that plays into it all and and how Opening yourself up, sharing your story, helps others.
Ms. V The Storyteller:Well, when you go back and deal with those issues and when you go back and you get healed from them, then you are open to share the story because now you have complete and total ownership.
Ms. V The Storyteller:Nobody can come back and say anything to you because you control the narrative, you control the story, how much you share and how much you don't share. You are able to share more when you're healed, when you've dealt with the issues and I mean all of it, the more. And let me go back whatever you deal with and heal from, you're freer to share it. But if you have a whole lot of stuff, you're only gonna be free to share the things that you've actually dealt with. The things you haven't dealt with you're not gonna be open and free to be able to share. So it's all going back to do part work, healing, forgiving those people dealing with those issues. And once you get it all done, then you're able to share your story. And when you share your story, every time you share it you get freer and you get more power with it and it also helps you to be a giver. You're sharing your story and you're helping other people to heal because they feel like, oh my God, she feels the same way that I feel, and then you can push someone into going to get help or somebody who's not ready to deal with it. When they hear your story and how you've overcome it will propel them into saying, hey, I wanna be like Michelle. Michelle is up there, look at her sharing her story and telling all that. I wanna be like her. Let me heal, let me go get some help, let me work through my issues so that I can be free like her, because you never know who God will put in your path to help you.
Ms. V The Storyteller:So and I've had so many guests that come on the show who's lost their voice and they didn't realize that. They lost their voice in their marriage, with their children, on their job and did not realize it. But if I didn't have this platform, if I hadn't gone back and dealt with and freed myself from all that stuff, I wouldn't have been able to connect and touch those people to help them. They've asked me well, what are the steps you take? And then they try it and now they're being freed.
Ms. V The Storyteller:So when you own your story, when you go back and deal with all those things that you need to deal with and you share them. You are being such a good steward and helping people to get healed, and that's what you do, michelle. You've gone, you've done the work and now you have a platform and you're going to help people. But you would not be able to have this podcast had you not gone back and deal with it, and I know I keep saying that over and over again, but it is so necessary. Go back. The Alliance she has a book. It's called the Keys to your Heart.
Michelle Hall:It may be a different book but I will link it in the show notes she and the episode where she was on, cause she was actually on the podcast talking about but she was talking right and yeah, it's an excellent book for doing heart work and going back and clearing all of that stuff out of your heart. I love the analogies about the starting with like the little wallet and Uh-huh.
Michelle Hall:And and your overhead suitcases and all of this Because and for me, as I just think about that, you know, I picked up baggage at a young age, mm-hmm, and I drug it along. But as I was dragging it along, I picked up more stuff, you know, and I ended up with a few trunks, you know, with a lot, because it was piling up. It was piling up and I wasn't dealing with things and I ended up with trunks of trauma and hardship and low self-esteem and all of those things and it did it literally weighed me down emotionally and mentally and to where I thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown and I was like, oh Lord, you've got to have something better for me than this, because this right here, this is not it. And so I will link the book, I will link that episode where Erica James was on talking about that. She and I had a really good conversation about that and I will link that in the show notes.
Ms. V The Storyteller:It's excellent for anybody who's here. And Michelle, you made a very good point Because I like when I was sharing my story as you listen to the story when I decided to lose my voice okay, that might have been a wallet, but as I continued on not talking, I put on a carry on when I lost my self-esteem. Then when I got bullied, I pulled on a trunk Because I kept being bullied and every time because of one decision or one thing that happened to you and not dealing with it, you just keep piling on the stuff, piling on the stuff to the point where you just don't feel like. And what people I've shared this a couple of times is it's been three times when I wanted to take my life and I pick and choose where I share that story, like you were talking about before.
Ms. V The Storyteller:I pick and choose where I share it, but it was because I didn't deal with that stuff. I mean, I wanted to be out of here. I was like look Lord, if I got to live like this, listen. But the one thing that kept me and I'll be quick and honest with it is that old people say if you kill yourself, you ain't going to heaven. I'm like listen, I've been down here this long going through this mess. I'm going to heaven, so let's just push this out my mind. We ain't going to kill ourselves, but I'm just saying. That's the one thing that kept me. I'm telling that older generation. They know how to scare you because it's like you ain't going to heaven If you take your own life you're going to make it to heaven.
Ms. V The Storyteller:I heard that too. I heard that too. So yeah, but please get help. You guys. If you're out there and you need it, please go and get help and own your story. Take your power back. Get rid of all those bondage and all those bags and trunks and all that stuff. Uh-uh, free, Be free.
Michelle Hall:Freedom. I'm telling you Freedom feels good. Freedom feels good and I know when you're carrying the burden and you got the trunks and all of the stuff that you're dragging behind you. That's what you know, that's what you're used to and you don't know what the other side feels like. But I'm here to tell you it feels good.
Michelle Hall:It's a beautiful thing, and it's worth the journey, whether it's painful, which it likely will be painful to get through it, but, honey, I wouldn't change it. I would not change it at all, and I love the word. I'm going to end with this word power. It gives you your power. You don't want anyone else holding the power of your story and your experiences, so I love that. Ms V, thank you so much for being on this podcast and talking with me today about owning our stories, and I know you work with people to help them craft their stories, so tell my listeners about what you do and how you help people if they want to connect with you about their stories.
Ms. V The Storyteller:Yes, so I have an online class that I teach. I try to do it once a month and it's helping you to find and craft your story, for business or in general. I also do one-on-one coaching, where I coach you and I help you to go back in to find that story and dig it up and even, like I said, we may have to go and do some healing, but we're going to get that story and I help you to craft it so that you can share it. You can go to my website. It is MsVTheStorytellerco, or you can follow me on Instagram. You can follow me on Facebook. You can email me at. Well, she'll have it in the show notes, because if I spell it out, I'm probably gonna spell it wrong. Yes, I will have it all.
Ms. V The Storyteller:You can email me, but you know, go to my website there's so much information up there and just email me from there and I will be more than happy to help you with your story and we'll get through it together. We've both been through, michelle and I, and we can help you to get through it.
Michelle Hall:Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, I've worked with her and she's helped me with my story and she is the real deal y'all. So if you need some help crafting your story, for whatever reason if you're gonna share it in a professional or personal setting, she can definitely help you with that. So thank you again, msv.
Ms. V The Storyteller:My pleasure, love it.
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