Why Storytelling Is Essential for Building a Better World

When it comes to creating new ideas and fuelling our imaginations there is little more powerful than storytelling. The art of storytelling is as old as the human species. Storytelling is essential for building a better world because it is through stories that we can explore possibilities, see the world through a difference lens and most importantly share the wisdom of the past to help imagine the future we want to see.

It is true that if you can dream it you can believe it, and if you believe in an idea you can surely make it happen.

So, let’s explore some reasons why storytelling is essential for building a better world. At the end of the blog there are some ways you an become a more active storyteller should you feel compelled to take action.

What is Storytelling?

Storytelling is a method of communication. While we often think that storytelling only for fairytales, the truth is that storytelling can be one the most powerful ways to create positive change in the world

Without storytelling we would not have journalism, we would not have our favourite films, we wouldn’t have chat shows. We wouldn’t have fiction books and if you think about, we would not have non-fiction books either for non-fiction books are often filled with anecdotes. Anecdotes are the most common stories we tell each other.

Storytelling helps us to communicate our ideas and can be a tool to help us activate our imaginations, in turn helping us to generate more ideas. Ideas, in action, change the world and storytelling is the catalyst.

“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world” - Robert McKee

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.” - Philip Pullman

When we were building out all the ideas and imaginings that have become the version of MoveMe Studios you see today, we explored what storytelling meant to us, and how as a studio we could use storytelling for good.

“MoveMe aspires to set into motion a seismic shift in the world where equitability and abundance are commonplace - all seeds need a growth medium to burst up out of the earth, turning their leaves towards the sun; our medium for growth is storytelling.” - MoveMe team.

Why Storytelling is Essential for Building a Better World

Storytelling is Inclusive

Storytelling is accessible for everyone. There are as many ways to communicate ideas and imaginings through storytelling as there are people on the planet. This is part of the beauty of storytelling, there is no set format and there is always space for innovative thinking.

We are taught in school that all good stories need a good beginning, middle and end or even to follow the Hero’s Journey, but the truth is, storytelling is the ultimate creative expression and we can share our ideas and imaginative solutions for building a better world, thought storytelling in whatever way feels right to us.

Storytelling Educates

There is a reason why we give fiction books to children, and why we use dramatisations of real life events to educate audiences. Storytelling is an effective way to communicate complex issues. Humans are social creatures who are biologically hardwired to relate to one another. Whether we are communicating stories about the climate crisis or social justice issues through a dramatic reenactment, or creating fictional narrative to provide education about health, science or a mathematical equation, storytelling is the anchor of many approaches to teaching.

Storytelling Unites

One of the most powerful outcomes of effective storytelling is unity. Whether we communicate real-life events as anecdotes or through media or share wisdom through fables, myths and legends the most impactful outcome of storytelling is unity. The shared experience of listening to, or observing a story creates a common ground between the audience. What’s more, the conversations started by effective storytelling inherently bring people closer together through discussion and the sharing of ideas and feelings generated by the shared experience.

Are You Compelled to Take Action?

Increase Awareness: Reflect on stories that you are consuming on a daily basis. Keep a note of the media you are consuming. How many different stories are you exposed to each day. This includes on your social media feeds, when you watch the news and when you communicate with your friends and family. Check in with yourself and ask, do these stories make me feel inspired, do I feel more informed, and do I feel like I am closer to my community?

If the answer is more frequently ‘no’ than ‘yes’ maybe it is time to curate more inspiring conversations and content for yourself. If you want to build a new community we wrote a blog all about that, and if you are looking for more inspiring content make sure you are following @MoveMe.Studio on Instagram and take a look at the accounts that we follow. We have consciously surrounded ourselves with sources of inspiration and hope that you find this a good starting point.

Increase Your Creativity - If you want to become a more effective storyteller we have shared a blog all about the creativity exercises we use to help generate ideas, ignite our imaginations and find new stories. Click here to read more.