Take a moment and reflect back upon the life stories you return to, that repeat in your mind, that define you. These “root stories” create a general stance or point of view toward life and our sense of self including who we are and what we consider possible. For me, they involve the early development of self-reliance necessitated by an inadequate primary/sole caregiver as a child. This early discovery of resilience has shaped my entire life and served me well.
That is the key: do the stories you tell yourself serve you? Strengthen you? Heck, are you aware of them? All of them? If your stories do not serve you, then re-write them, re-frame them, seek out stories that do serve you! It’s your life, you get to write the script, you get to direct the show. There is no rule that says you can’t tear up the old script and begin anew!
Closing Quotes:
“The stories we tell about ourselves are the people we become.” – Lauren Groff, Apocalypse Camp, Harpers p. 45, March 2020
“The extent to which we adapt and update our stories and stances depends almost entirely upon our ability to see them.” – Pamela McLean, Self as Coach, Self as Leader
“We think we tell stories, but stories often tell us, tell us to love or hate, to see or be seen. Often, too often, stories saddle us, ride us, whip us onward, tell us what to do and we do it without questioning. The task of learning to be free requires learning to hear them, to question them, to pause and hear silence, to name them and then become a story-teller.” ― Rebecca Solnit, The Faraway Nearby
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier