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3 mins

*Indistinct conversations, soundcheck, director signalling to the cameraman, lights up….big hot rim light adjusted, Camera rolling.., *

Director: All set! Aaa…..nd Action!

Actress: *In deep thought, while munching a sandwich*, I need to take a break from this meal…

Director: Cut!! We’ve talked about this; it’s “I need to take a break from this life not meal….” Got it?

Actress: Yes. It’s just that food gets in my way of thinking, but I have got it this time. I have got it. 

Director: Alright. Shot 2. Scene 7. Take one………..Action!!

What if the entire premise of our existence is a storyline. A narration whose building blocks we gather along the way as we meet these different characters, we call friends/strangers. And, unlike Hollywood, Ugawood, Nollywood, Bollywood movies, these our stories are not pre-written. Characters don’t look anything fancy but instead have a thing or two that makes them fit the roles in our real-time movie scenes called life. The unspoken truth is, each one of us is an actor/actress in someone’s movie. Imagine this, you grow up from a place X, and then at age 20 you meet these amazing people at school, taxi, church or bar – It could be anywhere – remember, the script is not pre-written. 

The unspoken truth is, each one of us is an actor/actress in someone’s movie.

At first, you connect with many on a courtesy level – acquaintances. Then the circle reduces to a finger number and finally to one or two on a personal level, isn’t this akin to finding characters for a real movie? Maybe not. You move on with your life, along with the ‘personal level friend’ you connected with a while ago. Years down the road life gets serious; both of you take different directions. Could be work, school or more life, that would eventually lead to the unfortunate parting of ways. Unbeknownst to you, both, this starts as I will always be in touch and, like a silhouette in the dying evening sun, it fades away.

…..like a silhouette in the dying evening sun, it fades away.

You then meet new characters to fill those roles you had no clue needed filing in your life. It all seems like a deja vu. Just like with the old characters, the process resumes, and the cycle continues. We’re humans, and we can’t deny how dynamic we all are. We meet different people, and for each, we share the parts of our lives lived earlier before we met them. Sometimes we tell ourselves; God, I wish I had met this person prior! If this speaks to you, you’re not alone. But I want you always to remember that the timing is just perfect. You only have to make their role in the current section on your storyline count.  Our lives are amazingly interwoven in unknown ways, and until we meet, the dots that need connecting seem nonexistent.

Our lives are amazingly interwoven in unknown ways, and until we meet, the dots that need connecting seem nonexistent.

Who you connect with will inevitably change the stories you tell tomorrow, and ultimately the role you play in writing and telling your story. The parts we live without the new entrants to our stories are the small subplots to this movie called life, and we choose how and when to share these with the new characters. This lays the foundation for our next subplot, and the cameras start to roll the moment we meet. It could be a job interview; it could be a date; it all goes back to how we frame the narrative of the life we lived before. The better we get at telling this, the more connections or lasting impressions we would make.Telling stories is not quite an easy feat, but as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

Who you connect with will inevitably change the stories you tell tomorrow..

To quote Miles Davis –“It took me years to learn how to play like myself”. Truth is it really takes a whole lot of time and energy to learn to do things our way. Most times, we do it like our favourites, mentors or guides. This explains why people say “I cook like my mum”. You have got to learn to tell your story, it might take time but the more you shoot your shot at it, the better you will get. It isn’t easy, you may sound like Obama at first or even your dad, but with time, you will carve out your mastery. For stories are the invisible bridges that connect the indescribable distant worlds of Humans.