Be cautious of narrativizing

Our lives are not stories that have defined arcs, turning points, or other storytelling devices. I think it's probably bad for people to think of their lives as narratives because this is a frame that can reinforce very wrong conclusions, like it being futile to try to change ourselves in lasting ways.

It's easy to obscure and later rationalize the significant changes to our lived experience that come out of "nowhere", in ways that our conscious mind didn't anticipate or believed to be impossible. Or miss the fact that there are countless opportunities to focus on the present, repeatedly, and gradually we can overthrow the pre-existing narratives not by convincing ourselves of a newer (and still illusory) narrative, but by shattering the idea that narratives should be the architects of our lives.

The same is true for our insights, which should be integrated somatically, conveyed directly, and only when necessary be (or rather, attempt to be) unpacked by story. Semantic narratives are flawed lenses to view reality through: they miss most of the nuance required to somatically graft the insight onto ourselves, while also attaching assumptions and progressions that were not always present in the original. An easy recipe to lead receivers astray.

This is a reminder for myself to write closer to reality. Most ideas don't need winding introductions that tie them to a life or a story.