Every day we tell ourselves stories about what’s going on for us in our lives. We live our lives by these stories, not even knowing they’re stories or even being aware of how they came about.
Typical stories can be about the type of person we are, the qualities we have or the values we live by. We’re constantly finessing the stories throughout our live and the different stories weave themselves together to create our identity, which can be thought of as our main plot theme.
One such example of a story is the one where “I make my bed every day because it means…” This is a story I tell myself daily, and because of it I do actually make my bed as soon as I get up!
All of our stories have some sort of cause and effect in them and are linked to our “identity level story” which is the main narrative of our lives. It may be linked to our work, our history, or leisure pursuits, our family status etc. etc.
Stories can spur us on to achieve greater things, or they can keep us stuck. The key thing to recognise is that we have them, and they’re individual to us.
So even if you think yours might be the same as someone else’s it won’t be, there will be subtle and not so subtle differences based on your individual experiences. Another thing to remember is that our stories are completely made up!
Although our stories feel true to us they’re not, it’s just that we’ve repeated them so often that they appear true to us. Our stories are such a key component to our lives that if something changes them suddenly and dramatically our lives can feel like they’re unravelling, even a seemingly innocuous change can have far reaching effects.
Being aware of our stories enables us to see where we are, and also to update them if they no longer serve us.
I wonder what stories you’re telling yourself currently that are out of date or no longer relevant?
