23 Reasons to Hire a Story Listener
A Story Listener is a person you can hire to talk to who is not a therapist — although it may have therapeutic benefits!
You could have a spectacular support system full of friends, family, neighbors, colleagues you actually like, and a therapist you trust and there are still dozens of reasons why you might want to talk to someone outside your current circle.
Here are 23 reasons you might book a session with me as a Story Listener. I keep thinking of more but I’ll make a new blog post for those because this list is long enough! Have another idea? Let’s do it!
You don't have anyone nearby to talk to today or this week, and you feel like talking.
You live in a new city and don't know many people yet.
You want to prepare for your date this weekend and test some anecdotes on a stranger.
You need to practice speaking without saying "um."
You're the stay-at-home parent of a toddler and you need to talk to someone who isn't going to ask you "why."
You live in a giant house all by yourself and your cat is a great listener and even raises the occasional eyebrow but more engagement would be pleasant.
You want to talk about something that you've already talked about A LOT with your friends and family and therapist and bartender and neighbors and the mailman they all agree it's time to move on but you're not ready.
You're studying English and want to practice your pronunciation and/or conversation skills.
You just read "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark."
You have some super juicy gossip to share but can't tell anyone in your life but if you don't tell someone you'll implode.
You're considering a major life decision and you want to talk it out before you bring it up to those closest to you.
You don't want your therapist to hear or remember this <fill in the blank>!
You're working on the details for a surprise party that no one else can no about at this point and talking through it would be fun.
You're about to speak in front of your class, a community meeting, or Congress.
You're about to become famous and need to practice sounding gracious and humble.
You're writing a play and want to try the dialogue on someone impartial.
You actually really do like the sound of your own voice.
You're super shy and have a terrible networking event to go to and want to practice projecting your voice.
Maybe it's not even for you -- maybe your parents or grandparents might need a little extra companionship.
You need to have a tough conversation with your boss and want to run it by someone else first.
You like talking to someone in your headphones when you go on walks.
You just had THE CRAZIEST DREAM. If people in your life don't like to hear about other people's dreams you can tell me.
You just want to.