Singular Stories

‘There are no stories worth keeping to yourself’, I thought
when he told me that what matters is not
where you have been
but who you are
not how you got here
but who you want to become.

I realized then that who I am has remained a mystery,
even to me
perhaps to you
but not to him, no
despite my best attempts to
compartmentalize
deflect
and do exactly what I thought I never would:
keep those stories to myself.