Untold

“At last, on Wednesday [November 22], at noon, having the wind astern, we succeeded in doubling the Cape, and then ran along the coast.”  The Cape is the southwesternmost point of the African continent. The year is 1497.

Whether authored personally by Vasco da Gama, or (perhaps more likely) anonymously by one of his fellow seamen, it is hard to overstate the relevance of this journal (known as ‘roteiro’ – road map – in its original language), of the journey it chronicles – the Portuguese navigator’s first voyage to India, and of the momentous feat it memorializes in this quote, which would reshape global trade.

Storytelling is a fundamental part of our shared human journey. Some accounts – like this one – record observations of events descriptively. Other stories are more personal, such as those we tell (or omit) to (or about) ourselves. Or those we construct about what happens to us.

The meaning we make of what happens (0.41) matters. Can we choose optimism as the starting point of our story?