Change Your Stories, Change Your Life

Today, I was planning a future event with some friends. While we were assigning tasks, one of them said, “I don’t think I can do that, I’m bad at math.”

“Bad at math.”

Any time someone says they’re inherently bad at something, I can’t help but ask, is that true, or is that a story you tell yourself?

For years, I believed I was bad at writing. I had plenty of evidence to back that up. I remember scoring a 29/100 on my 10th-grade English diagnostic exam. I did so bad that my teacher suggested I drop down to the lower level course. This narrative followed me through high school and university.

Then in 2020, I decided to challenge that belief. I wanted to become a better writer and that’s why I started this daily blog.

More than five years, I’ve completely rewritten that narrative. It’s funny because I’ll meet people now and they think I’m a talented writer. 14-year-old me would never have imagined getting compliments like this.

After that I asked myself what other stories am I carrying that don’t serve me?

Once I understood the power of personal narratives, I started noticing them everywhere. One friend says they’re too lazy to go to the gym. Another says they aren’t creative.

None of those things are objectively true. They’re just stories. Stories that you have the power to change.