A life story doesn’t just say what happened, it says why it was important, what it means for who the person is, for who they’ll become, and for what happens next. This narrative becomes a form of identity, in which the things someone chooses to include in the story, and the way she tells it, can both reflect and shape who she is. In the realm of narrative psychology, a person’s life story is not a Wikipedia biography of the facts and events of a life, but rather the way a person integrates those facts and events internally-picks them apart and weaves them back together to make meaning. They are personality, or more accurately, they are important parts of personality, along with other parts, like dispositional traits, goals, and values,” writes Dan McAdams, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University, along with Erika Manczak, in a chapter for the APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology. “Life stories do not simply reflect personality. In telling the story of how you became who you are, and of who you’re on your way to becoming, the story itself becomes a part of who you are. Though perhaps the facts of someone’s life, presented end to end, wouldn’t much resemble a narrative to the outside observer, the way people choose to tell the stories of their lives, to others and-crucially-to themselves, almost always does have a narrative arc. ‘I suppose-this sounds stupid, but I suppose I thought there’d be more of a narrative arc.’”īut it’s not stupid at all. “‘What did you expect?’” a friend responds. “‘It’s just not how I expected my life would be,’” he says. In Paul Murray’s novel Skippy Dies, there’s a point where the main character, Howard, has an existential crisis. So, start your chapter and make sure your writing each word with passion.This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. The same Harley Davidson ad that carried the above quote also included a great subhead: “You say you want to ride. You have to wield the pen and write the chapters of your life both in terms of the actions that you take and how they are recorded in your own history. Don’t let them take the pen away from you. Don’t let inaccuracies or untruths become common perception. If you don’t, you can’t expect anyone else to. That’s why you have to always speak up for yourself. It’s a sad fact of life that there will be occasions when people put their own spin on events and it doesn’t represent reality. Always make sure that the truth comes out and don’t allow other individuals with different motives and agendas of their own to misrepresent who you are or what you have done. You know that you’re an inherently decent person. You know as a unique individual who you are and what you contribute to the world. The other key meaning I take from this is literally don’t let anyone else write your story. Let’s look at the quote again: “When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen.” In business your crew and your passengers are your employees and your customers. You’re responsible for your crew and the passengers and you may have to ride tumultuous waves to get them home. You stay firmly at the helm until your journey is a success. You don’t let anyone or anything lead you off course. It means that you’re the captain of your ship and sometimes you have to steer that ship through stormy seas until you complete your journey and are in a safe harbor. You chart your own course and don’t stop until you reach your final destination. Fundamentally, it means that you have to be in control of your own life. To me, the quote is meaningful in several different ways. Its origin isn’t known, but I first came across it in an iconic Harley Davidson ad.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |