I just love hearing people’s stories. Everyone has something special to tell, a moment in life, a history family lines and significance to tell.

We all have them…it could be travels that we have done, stories of crossing borders, hotels or places we have visited.
All these add to our life story, our experience and how we see ourselves.

My story is unique and so is yours. Some chapters we have written together with others, and some others alone. Just recently I travelled through a few nations in the Balkans alone. I can tell some stories from that trip about border crossings and when I filled the gas tank on my car just to find out that the gas station bank terminal was out of service and I am not a cash person… 🙂

We all can tell stories from our daily lives, the question is how is your inner story going, your inner voice, how do you see yourself, your self-image?

That is a big matter to address, but it is true, we all tell our life story to ourselves. Some people will go through life believing that they can do everything, and others will go through life more as victims of circumstances. I have some good stories of people I have met who were on the ‘I can do everything’ side, who think the world was created for them. Once, I went into a room where I met one of these people who had all the knowledge, all the talk, and all the best of advice. But by the end of the day I was thinking that what he had the most of was self confidence, not necessarily wisdom.

But I have also met great people, that have lost hope, the sight of future and have become victims. I have seen what corruption, wrong leadership can lead to, and what happens to a society that cannot function well because of conflict, ethnic despise and a lack of innovative environment.

I have felt some of the pain of the fathers and mothers trying to provide a good future for their children in this kind of environment, and swimming up streams, going against the current in their nation, organisation or culture.

Leaders that daily fight for a better future are faced on a daily basis with the ins and outs of implementing integrity in corrupted nations.

These are my heroes, the leaders that are staring hopelessness in the face and still choose to be hopeful.

Every time I hear stories about leaders that dare to take the first step, starting up a business, an organisation or a church, my heart jumps. I love hearing their stories, their vision and about their day to day life.

This blog is written after one of these encounters, where I met a father, a husband and a small business owner that is doing his best to provide for his family, pioneering a business in a society where the young generation dreams mostly about going abroad.

Thank you all dear friends around the world that make a little light of hope shine in hopelessness. Thank you that you are writing history, your life story, and thank you that you are my inspiration.

Till next time, make your story a story of hope!

Rune Saether