AA Shapes Storytelling

Rich Roll explains how he developed his storytelling abilities through attending AA meetings.

"I really learned my education around storytelling as somebody who has attended thousands, if not tens of thousands, of AA meetings. I had the privilege to bear witness to people getting up in front of groups, large and small, and really bare their soul. They would tell their personal story, warts and all, of the hardships they endured and how they got better.

If you've been to AA meetings, you see people get up and tell the most horrific stories about things they have done - things that would provoke shame in any normal human being - and they laugh it off. You realize how powerful that is, to be so confident in yourself that you can share this tale of something you did and it holds no power over you.

That taught me the courage to be vulnerable myself, so I could get up in front of groups and tell my story with that level of honesty. When you do that, you create trust and connectivity with the person you're speaking to. If you're willing to get up and tell them this crazy thing you did as an opener, it gives the other person permission to do the same, and that exchange becomes much more intimate than a typical conversation."