How Our Stories Shape Our Realities - And How to Make That Change

My client Mary was diagnosed with learning disabilities at a time when little was known about them.

Unlike today, she wasn’t given an IEP and accommodations. Instead she was treated as if she was stupid.

She felt like a lab rat participating in studies & experiments to learn more about how the disabilities impacted her.

It’s thanks to people like Mary that researchers & educators know better how to help people with learning disabilities.

But, that’s not the story she tells herself.

The story that started in her childhood is that she is stupid, abnormal, or not as good as people who learn in more traditional ways.

This isn’t a conscious belief. If you ask her who she is, she won’t necessarily offer up that version of her story. But, it’s the one that’s triggered when she doesn’t understand something the ways others do. Or when someone gives her a look or seems judgmental.

We all carry stories about ourselves. Stories that are rooted way back in childhood & have grown over the decades that we continue telling them.

But, here’s the thing...stories are just a collection of beliefs. And beliefs are simply thoughts we’ve had over and over and over until they become rooted in our minds as truth.

People used to believe that the world was flat. It doesn’t make it true.

What you believe about yourself is no different.

Mary could start telling herself a very different story. All of which is true….

She defied the odds laid on her at the time & got a college education.

She held a full time professional career in education of all things!

She advocated HARD for her children when she saw evidence of learning disabilities in them.

Mary is a badass.

This is the same woman & the same facts with a totally different perspective.