From the moment that we are born, we are creating our personal narrative. As we get older, outside forces begin to boister or corrode that narrative. It is too bad that many fail to follow the teaching I learned in the Boy Scouts to be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” As we age, we begin to carry two personal narrative: the real one and the one that we put out to others.
Our real narrative is the one that determines if we have the good qualities of our species, like integrity. Oddly it one of the traits that I see less often. We are all born with the same amount of these good qualities and many of us start selling the off through life.
As you choose to loose those better qualities, we create a narrative that we project to others; these are the kind of things that we put on our Facebook page or on a dating app. Social media is a good place to determine the kind of person you are. Do you post to get attention or do you post to make the things better. Do you push your agenda on the world with truths or lies? Are you supportive or are you destructive? This is your public narrative. It is the one that most people see.
For many people they create their public narrative, the embellish it, and when told a sufficient number of times, they begin to believe it. In your narrative, you can become the hero or the victim. I’ve noticed a growing number of victims because they have started believing their public narrative. In stead of taking responsibility for their lives, they want to blame others for their failures.
What kind of narrative are you creating?