Writing Our Stories

We make sense of our lives through the stories we tell ourselves. They define how we think and feel about ourselves and the people and events in our lives.

You can write limiting stories that keep you stuck in a negative spiral without ever realizing it. This is one way your past keeps limiting your present.

The good news is that every time you tell yourself that new story, it becomes more embedded and eventually replaces the old one.

How does this help trauma?

Changing the narrative around your trauma won’t wipe out the events of the past. Acknowledging with compassion and changing the way you experience it will turn your distress into a memory that stays in the past, without creeping into the present. Freeing you from the tangle of your old narrative threads is a way to create choice and possibility again.

What does this have to do with anxiety?

Perhaps you feel like people will judge you? Or you tell yourself you aren’t good enough, clever enough, funny enough? Perhaps you constantly tell yourself something bad might happen, worry about all the possible negative outcomes or dangers? Maybe you find yourself always critical of your achievements? Or struggle to be present in the moment? Perhaps you find it hard to really let go and dive in, always hooding yourself back a little? These are all types of self-limiting narrative. They prevent us from living to our full potential, connecting fully to others in our lives, or enjoying pleasurable experiences with child-like absorption. These unhelpful stories can be identified, put away, and replaced with better ones that free us to live fuller, happier lives.

What if I just want help achieving a goal?

Self limiting stories hold us back from achieving our true potential. Do you feel like you can’t get that promotion? Won’t do well in presentations? Aren’t respected or appreciated? These attitudes all come from self-limiting stories and can be replaced. How would it feel to instead think, ‘of course I can!’

Will it be hard?

It will be as hard as you make it. If you commit to the process and start telling yourself a new story, that you can do it, then it becomes a journey that will amaze you, because the journey is to reconnect with the amazing in you.

Don’t dwell in your distress, limitations, or difficulties to overcome them. Lets explore and acknowledge them with compassion, then start the work to replace them with hope.

I believe everyone has the capacity to change their story. But facing life’s challenges and creating change can be hard to do alone.

You can find effective ways to work through the tangle of feelings, thoughts, and relationships towards a happier tomorrow.