We live in a world of constant news, and let’s be honest, mainly negative ones. We are overwhelmed by the amount of information to watch, listen, and absorb. In addition to this ever-growing influx, we have never been taught which elements to prioritise, and which ones to sweep away. And we definitely don’t have the capacity of assimilating everything. And if we do, we go numb.

Storytelling has the power to create emotions on us. Everyone has a personal story. Sometimes we are so sucked in into story, that we forget to connect to others. We forget to share and help one another. We forget that there is help that could make our life easier. We are so sucked in into our life that we believe that we can only count into ourselves.

There is infinite magic and power in storytelling. It can take you from the screen of your phone to meet people from across the world, discover how they live, what they believe in and advocate for. And that might just change your life.

I've always believed that the news informs us, but it is stories which inspire us. Stories help us connect, relate or empathise with a person we have never met, stories can transport us to a place we have never been. It's those compelling stories which allow our emotions to come alive, and without storytelling, it would be hard to imagine a world outside of our own.

Culture is what differentiates us from any other species on the planet. Culture is the way we are, and the things we create to exist, and that implies having the opportunity to make decisions about the world that surrounds us; and the communication, the communicators or storytellers, are in the cultural field.

Stories are not the only way to communicate ideas but certainly the best one at conveying emotions. It is proven that good storytelling generates oxitocine ("love" hormone) in our brain. We tend to identify with a "character", with a "goal", since ancient times and oral tradition.

Our stories are a reflection of our thoughts and the life we wish to see and transform. Stories are supposed to be windows and not walls, it is what gives our lives more meaning and reflects our daily hurdles. A life without stories is meaningless, there won’t be no continuation and impacting of knowledge and cultures.

The struggle of the technological era is the feeling of being powerless, as we feed ourselves with negative information which can be found at the tip of our fingers. But for every bad story out there, there are a thousand inspiring ones deserving to be told.

We live in a world full of extraordinary stories but few story tellers. While there are many narratives of success, dealing primarily with high flyers, brands and organizations, the ones who actually need a voice are still unheard. A gap exists between these affected communities and people. Their unheard narrative results in our lack of understanding. A story well told can be a catalyst for action and change.

The beauty of humanity is in its fascination with the imagination. Our power is in our ability to weave stories. Our understanding of the world is based on the stories we have been telling for thousands of years.

For as long as humans have existed, we have told stories.
They were simple in the beginning. Pictures & characters carved into walls of stone. Fireside legends passed down verbally through generations.
As we evolved, so did our stories, & over time, these narratives took many forms.

We are storytelling creatures. Stories we tell we see as part of the broader truth. Characters of movies and books become part of our reality. At the same time, it’s sometimes easier to devour truth from stories, than from facts.

I lived my entire life with the conviction that my videos, that my life, has to be at the service of the improvement of the society in which we live. After a school in Digital Film Making at SAE Institute in 2012, I decided to specialize in documentary at the Civic School Luchino Visconti in Milano, exactly for this reason: to acquire the necessary skills to tell a story able to open the peolpe minds!

Since we wake up till the end of the day, we are hit by media that reminds us what are the negative events happening in the world. By the time I used to watch the news in my country I could feel my days turning grayer. Didn’t just feel sad or powerless about the number of negative happenings around my country, but also disappointed about the incapacity of the media to communicate positive stories.

It’s all true. The horror and the beauty. The kindness and the cruelty. The exceptional and the ordinary. The simple and the complex.
Everything is happening at once, daunting, overwhelming, exciting.
There’s so many of us. So different, yet, so alike.

Can I tell you my story? My name is Nelly dos Reis and I was born and raised in Rotterdam a city based in the Netherlands. Both of my parents we’re born and Raised in Cape Verde and moved to the Netherlands at age of 19.

Social media has empowered everyone to become story tellers. For a country like Bhutan where there is only one TV station, the digital platform has empowered creators to develop unique local content that travels to audiences all over the world. I started creating travel content from Bhutan because I had always felt that we didn't have enough stories coming from Bhutan by local Bhutanese.

Storytelling made me who I AM!!!
I have witnessed the power of storytelling in my own life. Storytelling didn't change my life. It MADE my life! Storytelling gave me a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose and most importantly it gave me a sense of self.

Storytelling begins with the stories themselves—stories that are each unique, like the thumbprint of our identities. There is nothing more powerful than a real and genuine story. Stories allow us to travel through time and space—in the blink of an eye, we can be taken to a new world and a different reality.

I have a Slovenian friend who likes to mix wine with Coca-Cola. Her French friend thinks she's nuts. I, myself, reluctantly admit that I like to eat pasta with bread and put ketchup on my pizza, and, let me tell you, my Italian friends are not happy.
And these are just foods and beverages we are talking about.