Those unconscious stories we tell ourselves can be tricky. Narratives contain truth and lies, usually jumbled together. Sorting truth from lies is one of the primary jobs of avoiding brain hijacks that can cripple you in crisis.
For instance, the story you’re telling yourself may be that the world is out of control and now there’s only suffering and unpleasantness ahead. That you’re helpless. That there’s nothing you can do except shelter in place and protect your loved ones.
If you say that narrative out loud – at least in the light of day – you’ll know it’s a mixture of truth and lies. True, the world is not in your control. It never was. It never will be. But it’s patently false that the only thing ahead is a grey, joyless future. Or that you’re now completely helpless with no useful purpose.
This is why tracing your narratives from your daily, real feelings is so empowering. You can write them down. You can speak them out loud. You can chuckle at yourself. Then you can become very assertive with those stories. You can say, “Wait, that’s not entirely true. You can’t fool me.”
We’re all going to have to do a different level of hard in the coming days. Let’s not let stupid lies we tell ourselves make it any harder.
