Hi, it's Sam here.

Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday.

I don't know about you, but I have a habit of retelling stories.

For the most part, my friends and loved ones tolerate me, but they're not always thrilled

by the repetition and the pressure to listen as if it's for the first time.

The experience got me thinking about what makes us tell the same stories over and over again.

What do we get out of it?

Storytelling is an innate human need.

Since the beginning of time, humans have told stories to warn of danger, celebrate victories,

and preserve important traditions and customs.

We can even recall information better when it's told as a story.

We may tell stories to entertain each other, relive the emotions and thrill of a recent

adventure, or reconnect with feelings of tenderness when recalling moments spent with loved ones.

A story that I've had on repeat lately was a time in my senior year of high school,

when a beloved teacher accused me of plagiarism.

When I shared a series of poems that I had written, she didn't believe that they were

mine.

She said that they were too complex and mature to be written by a person my age.

When she found out that the poems were mine, you can imagine how surprised she was.

I thought about why I had been repeating this story lately, and I realized that it helps

me to remember something that I used to really enjoy doing, writing poetry.

It's also something others in my life told me that I was good at.

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